Council waste bosses are heading for another debacle after writing to residents on future plans for recycling, according to local councillors.

The roll-out of recycling to some areas not currently benefiting from kerbside collections is due to get underway next week, but residents once again have been instructed only weeks ahead of what will happen, rather than being engaged through proper consultation.

Micklegate councillor Sandy Fraser criticised the council from not learning lessons when it first implemented fortnightly waste collections. He said:

"Once again we have a ‘council knows best' mentality among the Lib Dem Executive Member and the controlling Group responsible for implementing this policy, a policy it failed to implement to residents' satisfaction last time it tried, in the Groves area where their arrangements were pilotted. That led to an outcry."

"The fact that a trial has taken place elsewhere in the city for properties of a similar type does not mean that solutions in that area will work for Micklegate ward. It would appear the Lib Dems have failed to learn from their past mistakes".

Fellow ward councillor Julie Gunnell endorsed that view, saying that individual streets should have been given the opportunity to consider what works best for them. She commented:

"Of course we welcome and need the extension of recycling to all areas of the city, as we have campaigned for for a number of years. The council has an obligation to offer kerbside recycling by 2011 but it should be consulting and involving residents, rather than simply imposing its idea of what will work, particularly with the elderly and people with disabilities who may struggle with the proposed arrangements.

"Each area has unique characteristics and during the Groves pilot the council seemed to acknowledge this. But now it has ignored this fact and is steaming ahead regardless. I very much hope it doesn't lead to the disaster of the first fortnightly collections due to the same mistakes".