MADAM – Two weeks on and not a mention on the letters page of the SNJ makes me wonder if I was the only one to read it and here I refer to the article entitled “Food waste recycling to arrive in shake-up” on page nine of the November 12 edition of the SNJ.

Whilst it states that there will be a weekly food waste collection, probably from July 2016, it also states that this will lead to fortnightly collections of black bin waste.

We in Stroud are very fortunate to have weekly collections of rubbish compared to other parts of the country who have to endure fortnightly collections and I have yet to hear anything positive about fortnightly collections.

So not only will we have to put up with an unsightly small bin containing food waste which will no doubt start to smell and for which we will have to provide bags to line it, but we will also have to store our general waste for two weeks.

Where are we going to store this waste for two weeks?

In the garden?

Or in the house?

There could well be health consequences as a result.

I know some households who will regularly put out three black bin bags of rubbish for the weekly collection so where will these bags go during that two week interval?

I am sure a lot of people will vote with their bags and simply put them out every week. The litter problem is bad enough without having to see mounting piles of black bin bags on the pavement.

I have to say, that in our household, we have no intention of putting out food waste for recycling – much prefer to put it out for our local wildlife such as badgers.

I did think of using the food bin as a waste paper bin but then again, it is not something I particularly want to be looking at in the house so I will have to think of other uses for it.

Also in the article was the mention of a charge of £15 for the collection of bulky items from July 2016.

I find this proposal one of staggering naivety.

Have the people who proposed it and have voted for it never heard of ‘fly tipping’?

I regularly walk up Brickrow, Stroud and this seems to have become Stroud’s official fly tipping zone – spotted a mattress there which has been there for at least one week and so I only see more items being added come July 2016.

The council will end up having to remove the increasing eyesores from around the area at public expense.

Will this be cheaper than the present system of contacting the council to arrange collection on a pre-arranged date of said bulky items?

I very much doubt it.

Also, what will visitors to our town/area think when they see discarded mattresses, televisions, furniture etc. on the pavement?

I do not think this will boost our chances of winning the Britain in Bloom competition.

So citizens of Stroud District, we are at the mercy of some unelected and unaccountable official at Ebley Mill who with the collusion of councillors has decided to impose this upon us.

I would suggest that with an election in the offing, we need to put our would-be representatives – whether it be parliament or council – on the spot and tell them of our profound dissatisfaction at these moves when they coming knocking on our doors wanting our votes.

Of course, we all know politicians can be notoriously unreliable when it comes to carrying out their promises, so why not produce a written contract for them to sign when they arrive at your front door?

At least when they renege on their promises, we can produce documentary evidence of what they have failed to deliver on.

Huw Niland

Stroud