Edinburgh's communal bin hub row: Will Cabinet Secretary Angus Robertson take his SNP council colleagues to task? – John McLellan

Opposition to the new communal bin hubs in the New Town must be getting intense if it has now muscled its way into the packed agenda of the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, otherwise known as local SNP MSP Angus Robertson.

Angus Robertson said he was 'pleased to see the council’s agreement to delay the rollout of bin hubs in the gull bag locations' (Picture: Fraser Bremner/pool/Scottish Daily Mail/PA)

“Many have issues with the practicalities of the bin hubs and their impact on Edinburgh’s World Heritage status,” he wrote in Tuesday’s Evening News, which is what locals have been saying for months about the plans now being imposed by his party’s representatives and their Labour cronies.

“Some people’s dissatisfaction clearly came from feeling that they have not been included in the decision-making process,” he observed. You don’t say Angus?

Just over the constituency boundary in Abbeyhill, residents similarly feel ignored about new bin hubs now popping up, with minimal opportunity to engage with officers and the outcomes presented as a fait accompli.

One hub was installed right outside someone’s windows despite there being the same space available right across the road where there are no homes.

Complaints are mounting by the day and the reaction is intransigence, with senior officers not even bothering to answer emails from councillors, well this one at least.

But this has been the story of Edinburgh Council for the past five years. Local people who know their streets are ignored by an SNP-Labour leadership which forgets it is there to represent the people, not the officers.

That’s right, Angus, your lot are responsible for this, so the question is, what will you do to make them listen to your constituents?

John McLellan is a Conservative councillor for Craigentinny/Duddingston

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