A fresh complaint may be made to the Local Authority Ombudsman over piles of uncollected household waste which spill across the pavement in Athelstan Road, Cliftonville.
Despite extra collections in the street, waste from two particular blocks continues to overflow from paladin bins.
Last year the ombudsman upheld a complaint from a resident, who said Thanet council was not providing a satisfactory waste collection service to the road, resulting in overfilled bins, waste piling up on the street, fly-tipping, and pests.
The complainant, referenced as Mrs B, said the waste was affecting her mental health and enjoyment of her home, and she had spent money trying to tackle the pests.
She said she wanted the council to increase weekly collections and consider a more permanent solution, such as cages surrounding the bins.
The ombudsman looked at incidents from August 2023 to August 2024, although Mrs B said she had been lodging complaints since 2020.
One incident included fly-tipped waste in the rear of a neighbouring property which was set fire to, causing damage to Mrs B’s property.
The ombudsman said: “It is not for a lack of trying that there is a problem with the waste service on Mrs B’s road. But the council has a duty to keep land clear of litter and refuse, as far as is practicable.
“The council’s failure to comply with this duty, despite its increased level of resource and service, is a service failure. This meant Mrs B had to report the overfilled bins and fly-tipping, and raise complaints with the council. This caused frustration and uncertainty to her as she could not trust the service would improve.”
Thanet council said it collects waste from Athelstan Road at more than double the frequency of most areas but says roughly 75% of residents are not using the bags or bins provided at their properties which may be contributing to the issue of overfilled bins and fly-tipping.
The ombudsman ordered a symbolic financial payment and an apology be made to Mrs B.
Now it is suggested a further complaint may be lodged after a mountain of rubbish at two blocks in the street was not collected over the Christmas period.
Athelstan Road Tenants and Residents Association (ARTRA) founder Matt Shoul said: “TDC environmental operatives collected household waste from all other tenanted properties on Athelstan Road (on Dec 30) but not the two mid street blocks.
“The absurdly longstanding stalemate between TDC Waste Management and the landlords has demonstrably resulted in ongoing statutory failure, over a period of many years, which must be addressed and resolved.
“Without a resolution, further formal complaints to the Local Authority Ombudsman in 2026 are inevitable and following the upheld ombudsman complaint in 2025, resulting in TDC Waste Management (making symbolic payment), future fines of increasing severity are likewise an inevitability, without adequately frequent household waste collections.
“It has previously been argued that multiple weekly mid-street collections constitute local authority best practice in similar situations nationally and are essential to keep Athelstan Road in a fit and legally compliant state.”
Mr Shoul says ward councillor Alan Currie managed to get last month’s pile of rubbish removed after putting in an urgent request. He adds that the ward councillors had previously reached an agreement with the former head of TDC Waste for multi-week collections of mid street rubbish and he’d like to see that reinstated with the current head of department.
Mr Shoul would also like to see action in regards to landlords who ‘fail to advise or assist tenants on their waste disposal behaviour.’
A Thanet council spokesperson said: “We actively monitor collections of the communal bins on Athelstan Road. Crews empty the communal bins every day and a supervisor checks that the scheduled collection has been completed.
“Crews also collect illegally dumped rubbish from Athelstan Road daily and a manual street sweeper covers the road. This in addition to the weekly household waste collections.
“The two large communal bins at 26-30 Athelstan Road in Margate were emptied as planned on Tuesday 30 December. However, due to extra waste generated over the festive period, and unforeseen operational challenges, some rubbish was left around the bins. This has now been cleared.
“We continue to monitor the waste provision at Athelstan Road, and remove additional rubbish as required.”
Our communal bin here in Birchington hasn’t been emptied since before Christmas. TDC really are the pits!
Communal bin. Another name for Birchington (village of the dammed) ?
I was driving through the village recently and saw an elderly man with dyed black hair foraging through the food waste bins of the Wimpy. Was this you per chance ?
Anyone fancy a cold, old, half eaten bender.
Piss off.
Quite why is it seemingly everyone’s fault other than the actual residents of the buildings in question and their attitudes towards rubbish ?
Athelstan road has historically been a place that some of thanets least responsible/ desirable residents have ended up living. With all the attendant issues that accompany them. It’s why property in the street has been historically cheap and unkempt. That there are those who want to take advantage of those low prices to live there and then complain about the behaviours of those they’ve moved into the midst of , seems all very entitled and opportunistic.
Bins need to be emptied more than once every two weeks it’s a joke, Christmas has been and gone and the bags put out next to the wheelie bins cause they where full don’t get touched now we have to wait till after they get emptied to put what we have stored for the following two week.
I thought it was a bit of trendy art on Thanet’s trendiest street!
The sinic- no you didn’t. You thought you’d try to say something amusing about it.
Oh do lighten up, female.
They should be used to it in that ghetto.
The Council aren’t providing a satisfactory waste collection service to the whole district. Litter strewn streets,bins not being emptied, dog poo everywhere, collection chaos over Xmas and New Year with collections not taking place on advertised days with zero Comms and now this.
Usual silence from the Portfolio Holder Councillor Albon. Always goes MIA when things go wrong only to reappear when there’s some new enforcement initiative to talk about.
The service is quite literally, rubbish.
It’s about time Athelstan Road residents had their Council Tax increased to meet the demands they put on local services. I can’t think of any other road in Thanet that gets such a bespoke service and even then they cannot manage to put their rubbish in a bin.
Or maybe the council shouldn’t allow overcrowding in those former hotels. It was never a problem when hotels. Now they have all been converted into hundreds of small rooms to cram as many people as possible in with approval from TDC.
Yeah and Polly Billington and the Labour party pontificate about Southern Water sea pollution whilst her own Labour council pollute our countryside and strrets.We have one broken bin outside a cornershop which has 1500 East Kent College students fill everyday within one hour of the bin being emptied.The other 23 hours the litter generated in this bins flys around our strrets.I pivk up 50 to 80 pieces of litter per day simply because our brain dead Council refuse to deal with problem.Bring on the Ombudsman.
I agree, not with moaning to the ombudsman but getting a grip on the problem.If Margate hadn’t been so obstinate it would a Town council who could sort out Athelstan Road.The residents there are a pain, but that silly cage is useless.My solution is install a dumpy bin and empty it everyday, then slowly decrease the frequency so that the arsenal’s who persistently fly tip get tge message, and oh! Install a cctv camera to catch the blighters fly tipping.
When I lived in Westbrook until a few years ago, we had a large communal bin at the end of our cul-de-sac. I filmed local businesses dumping their rubbish in it, with number plate and logos clearly seen, but when I sent it to TDC I got no response!
I did the same when a house cleared emptied their van into a communal bin in Dalby square, clear photos including number plate and faces of those involved. No action taken.
In reply to a previous comment at one time the Dalby square communal bins were checked and emptied ( if needed) 3 times a day.
Athelstan Road is and always has been a basket case. In the past the residents were left to thrive in the squalor they created, but the incoming opportunists don’t want to live in the street they chose and wish it to be cleaned up. Seems to escape them that the state of the street is why it’s historically been avoided by normal folk
That’s disappointing Peter, people loose confidence in a local council if they do not respond or take corrective actions.
NOTHING SUPRISING – THANET. A utter sh–hole. Plus the council.
Athelstan, the Saxon King who created England. Why have fallen so low?
That photo looks like every layby on the A299.You can drive from Cornwall to Thanet and every layby has lovely clean areas and then you arrive in Thanet.What damage this must do for tourism. How short sighted can TDC be.