The news that Blaenau Gwent Council is considering three-weekly black bag collections is truly disgusting. People in Waunlwyd are already regularly reporting rat infestation problems due to the two-weekly collection, coupled with the fact that the poorly designed wheelie bins blow over and scatter their contents in a heavy breeze, not to mention the fact that not everyone has been issued with a wheelie bin yet, as the council seem unable to supply bins small enough for disabled people with stepped access to use. To move to a three-weekly collection will simply make this serious public health problem even worse, especially in the summer when children play in the same back lanes where the bins are stored.

Which brings me to the question why do the people of Blaenau Gwent have to suffer such appalling service? We do, after all, pay higher rates of council tax than most of Wales, and considerably higher rates than most of England. We should be entitled to expect a high standard of service for our punitively expensive tax. The problem is, of course, that our councillors are far too comfortable in their seats and do not even bother to scrutinise the money wasted on the hair-brained schemes of their officers the massive waste of money due to the hare-brained schemes of their officers.

I McNicholas, Waunlwyd, Ebbw Vale