A PICTURE perfect town is considering fining residents for leaving the bins out and ruining the town for tourists.
Under new rules locals could be slapped with a fine if they do not remove their wheelie bins from the street following them being emptied.
Tewkesbury, is a historic market town in Gloucestershire popular with tourists visiting the Cotswolds.
The threat of a fine follows a petition by Tewkesbury Civic Society raising concerns about ‘bin blight’ in the town’s historic conservation area.
The society believes that the bright coloured bins littering the pavements reduce property value, act as obstructions to wheelchair and pram users, while also preventing tourists from taking Instagram pictures.
A six-month pilot scheme that would see residents issued written warnings about repeatedly failing to put their bins away is being proposed.
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It has been recommended by a council working group to change current guidance from a “request” to a “requirement” that bins are removed from the street after collection.
Chair of Tewkesbury Civic Society, Alan Purkiss, told the Daily Mail: “It’s a lovely old town.
“But if you’re disabled, in a wheelchair, or a buggy, you can’t get past sometimes due to the bins.
“I know people who actually threatened to leave the area, because they were sick and tired of coming out of the front door and the first thing they saw was bins outside.
“There is an economic effect on property values which is hard to measure, but it’s definitely there.
“Business people in the town say that their business is being affected by those bins outside their houses.
“People come to tell me that they’ve been approached by visitors saying ‘it’s a pity about the bins’.
“You wouldn’t really want to have a row of bins if you were photographing here, would this be the kind of background you want?” he added.
Alan compared the proposed fine to a fixed penalty notice for spitting, dog fouling, graffitiing, or littering.
Another resident is concerned not only by the sight of the bins but also the smell.
“Lots of people don’t collect them [bins] so they could be out there for days.
“They are horrible, especially in the summer, they stink. It just makes the town smell” said Angela Hanbury, 65.
“It takes a minute to go up and get a bin and clear it away, doesn’t it? Make the town so much nicer and cleaner.
“We have lots and lots of visitors in the summer, and they’re horrible to look at for them as well” she added.
However, one resident raised an important concern on a local Facebook group: “what if you work and don’t get home until early evening?” they asked.
Another local, doctor Kamila Pavlova, 45, said she believes the proposal is “nonsense” because she doesn’t have anyone to take the bins out of the street when she is at work.
While another wrote: “Instead of fining people, what if, we all gave the council money and they cleaned the street.”
The Sun has contacted Tewkesbury Borough Council for comment.