The great divide

A PICTURE THAT SUMS UP THE FRUSTRATING SITUATION IN BIRMINGHAM

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IT'S a road of two halves - and perfectly sums up the frustration of Birmingham taxpayers.

Because while residents on the city council-run side of the street see black sacks piled high, their neighbours on the other side of Chelworth Road, in Walkers Heath, look out onto an immaculate pavement.

The reason is easy to guess.

The clean side is part of Bromsgrove and comes under Worcestershire County Council - but those on the very edge of Birmingham's area are part of the bins strike misery engulfing the city.

The mountain of bin bags are stacked by rows of well-maintained maisonettes which come under Birmingham City Council and should have been taken on Friday, March 21.

Resident Inna Pedryc, 60, said: "They haven't collected the recycling since January and the general waste has not been collected for three weeks - it's awful, foxes and rats rip the bags.

"I put my bin bags out on Friday outside my home so maybe it's been added to the mountain."

Her neighbour Ann Flint, 78, said she had not been adding to the bag pile. She said: "I've been putting my rubbish in my bin cupboard but it's getting too much and I'll have to put it in the garden.

"I've not got a car so I couldn't take it to the tip.