UPDATE: Owner of Penwortham Residential Park to visit site after residents' bin collection woes

Building work is ongoing at the over-55’s Penwortham Residential Park, off Stricklands Lane and because of the disruption, refuse collectors for South Ribble Council said they couldn’t get to the bins.

After two weeks, residents were then asked to drag their full bins to the entrance for emptying.

Melvyn Gardner, a former Mayor of Penwortham who lives on the park, said: “It’s wrong that we’ve been asked to do that. This park is for people who are over the age of 55.

“It’s a health and safety issue as well, especially with all of these contractors.”

>>>Read about the ongoing work at the park here

He added: “We’ve now heard that the council will come next week with a smaller wagon. But why couldn’t they do that three weeks ago? It shouldn’t take people complaining for it to happen.

“It’s the law of the land that every household has its bins collected and South Ribble broke that rule.”

The Council said its Waste Collection Team visited the site on “multiple occasions”, but were unable collect the bins and unable to contact the management team at Wyldecrest Parks until August 7, when arrangements were made for all bins to be brought to the entrance.

Council leader Paul Foster admitted it was “not an ideal solution”, but it was “out of the Council’s control.”

Wyldecrest Parks said they were unaware of any contact attempt until Wednesday.

Coun Foster said: “On Wednesday our collection team supervisor went to assess the situation and upon meeting a representative from the management company was advised they would be moving the fencing and works which would allow enough room for our smaller bin collection vehicle to access the site avoiding the need for bins to be wheeled out.”

Collections are expected to return to normal next week.

Alfie Best, Wyldecrest Parks Chairman, said he was "disappointed" for the residents and acted as soon as he was notified on social media.

He said: "We didn't know anything about it, nobody reported it to the head office.

"The first I heard was when a lady, who is not a resident, sent me a message on social media on Wednesday. As soon as I got that, I arranged a meeting with the contracts manager.

"To me, this is positive feedback, not negative. We are paying contractors to do a job and I want to know what is going on.

"I'm perturbed for the residents, but I will be visiting the site myself today."