Newly converted

SIR, - At a recent planning meeting I hope I witnessed a Damascus moment for the Lib-Dem St Albans district councillor responsible for recycling. He spoke against a planning application in Camp Road because, among other things, wheelie bins would need to be stored in front of the house.

I was astonished. Was this the same councillor who lectured a recent meeting about the need for wheelie bins? Then he said that people would just have to accept that the bins would have to be stored in front gardens with very few exceptions.

The lecture had come about because I and other councillors had questioned whether wheelie bins were suitable for parts of Jersey Farm. We had challenged why those residents are to be forced to house wheelie bins in their front gardens. This council has chosen the bins to achieve its recycling targets but has to accept that householders may not want these unsightly bins disfiguring their lives.

They should be allowed to have their views properly considered when they have restricted access to their back gardens and do not want waste bins under their front windows.

Parts of the Conservation Areas are exempted from the wheelie-bin requirements because of the effect on the street scene.

Why is it not accepted that the street scene is important to people in other parts of the district as well?

CLLR FRANCES LEONARD,

Sandridge and Jersey Farm Ward,