MORE than half a million bins were collected late in Barnsley in the first four months of the year, it has been revealed.

A Freedom of Information request, seen by the Chronicle, shows that the number of late collections - defined as not being emptied on the scheduled day in the collection calendar - reached 595,000 between January and April.

Of the 552,524 collections that were required in January, 552,236 were made - though the number of late collections hit more than 330,000, the highest number so far this year.

It was a slightly better situation in February when 150,889 were collected later than scheduled - as 463,099 of the scheduled 463,628 bins were collected.

There was a huge decrease in the number of late collections the following month, as 11,480 were considered late.

But the reprieve was short lived as in April more than 102,000 of the 777,476 weren’t collected on time.

A response by Barnsley Council states: “Waste services strives to return for missed collections as soon as resources allow, excluding individually reported missed collections.

“Currently, there is no service level agreement specifying the timeframe within which we are required to return for collection.

“As a result, while we monitor the properties awaiting collection, we do not record the number of days between their scheduled collection date and the actual collection date.

“During January, we experienced a period of severe weather that significantly affected waste collections.

“The snowfall disrupted services on the day it occurred, while the subsequent days of sub-zero temperatures further hindered collections and our efforts to resume the scheduled service.

“Other reasons for missed collections include vehicle breakdowns, staff illness, delays at transfer stations, road closures, and inaccessible streets due to parked cars, among other factors.”

The request also sought to find out the number of staff currently in roles at the council, with it being revealed that it is at its joint-lowest number since 2019.

There are currently 98 waste collection roles at the council - and six management staff - the same as 2022 though at that point there was one more member of management.

It’s a decrease of five from the previous year when there were 103 waste collections roles.

The FOI also confirmed that neither the council’s equipment or staff are used out of the borough.

It added: “All Barnsley refuse collection staff, refuse management personnel, and equipment are exclusively deployed within the borough.

“There are no instances where our staff or resources are allocated for operations outside of Barnsley.”