| A RECTOR criticised a borough council for being high-handed after it took a parishioner, Gareth Corkhill, a 26-year-old bus driver with a young family, to court for overfilling his wheelie bin.
The Team Rector of Whitehaven, the Revd John Bannister, said in a letter to The Whitehaven News that members of Copeland Council would have done better “to look to their own deficiencies, before condemning the good name of those they are paid and elected to serve”.
He called on people to stand up to the “bullying” council by helping Mr Corkhill pay the £210 fine he received from the court.
Last week, Mr Bannister said donors had subscribed three times the amount needed. The fine had been paid off, and the rest of the donations had been returned, except for £90, which one donor had insisted Mr Corkhill retain.
Mr Bannister said that his pastoral concern was for Mr Corkhill. “He now has a criminal record that will stay with him and could impede his future. That is unjust.”
The Council had not introduced the fortnightly wheelie-bin collection system fairly across the area, he said. Some areas still used black plastic sacks that were torn by seagulls. “The streets are laden with rotten food, and the sight is appalling on a Sunday. The Council has not heeded this. The recycling service and the refuse collection is way below the national standard. They have been high-handed to take this action.”
He said that his church was behind him on this, and that he had “reflected on these matters with the PCC. The parish of Whitehaven, because of the nuclear industry, has a long history of putting its faith into action.”
Mr Corkhill was not a churchgoer, Mr Bannister said, but that was irrelevant. “He is a member of the community — a hard-working man, law-abiding and leading a decent life, and he is shocked by the whole thing.”
A Council spokesman said it had a need to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. |
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