ORGANISERS of a popular village event have rubbished the borough council after it reduced their free bin allocation.

In the past, North Baddesley Village Day Committee has always been given two large commercial waste bins for the charity event by Test Valley Borough Council.

Last year, there were so many visitors that the bins were overflowing, so this year organisers asked for an extra dumpster for May 17’s event.

Instead, TVBC offered six household wheelie bins, which organiser Tracy Hickson claims would be totally inadequate.

“We were told that the best we could have were six black domestic bins and any extra waste must be removed by a contractor, or we have to drive it to Timsbury tip and dump it ourselves,” said an angry Tracy.

“TVBC state it no longer offers the service, as it has to pay for the waste to be disposed of.”

She said that the village day raised money for good causes and if they had to pay for rubbish to be taken away, it would cut into their profits.

Groups who have benefited from the village day in recent years include the Scouts and Guides, the Silver Surfers Club, North Baddesley Library, British Red Cross and North Baddesley Historical Society. TVBC has also given the committee 1,000 bags to hand out to visitors to take their rubbish home in.

“Given the amount of rubbish we pick up from the site when we have provided bins, I think it is more likely we will be picking up 1,000 bags and driving the 10-mile round trip to the dump at our own expense” said Tracy.

A TVBC spokesperson explained the reasons behind the change of bin provision. “While we have no legal duty to do so, we continue to support local events by providing free bins.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any bulk bins in stock, which is what we would normally offer for this type of event. However, we are able to provide six large (360 litre) bins instead, free of charge, as an alternative,” she said, pointing out that the authority offered 1,000 free reusable car litter bags to the committee.

The spokesperson added that the bins provided by the borough will be collected and the contents disposed of without charge.

“Regrettably, community events do generate litter. While we are keen to support the day as best we can with the resources we have available, event organisers may be required to take some responsibility for the disposal of some of the rubbish,” she concluded.