Dust won't settle on this seriously flawed scheme

If a week is, in that memorable phrase, "a long time in politics", 11 months is an eternity.

And that is how long some taxpayers have been waiting for Rother and its contractors to honour pledges given before the scheme was introduced in June 2007.

This scheme was a classic case of the right objectives being confounded by botched implementation.

The public WANTED better recycling. The public WELCOMED the practical opportunity to become more environmentally conscious.

What they didn't expect was the chaos which ensued when the scheme was launched.

And what is totally inexcusable is that nearly a year later there should still be shortcomings in aspects which are quite fundamental to the scheme.

Larger families who appealed last summer that their black wheelie bins were too small for their needs were told their case had been accepted and that they could expect bigger bins to be delivered in October.

They are still waiting.

One of the better aspects of the scheme is the introduction of green wheelie bins for compostible garden waste.

This has been generally welcomed. Even the keenest home composters find that at peak times the garden can generate more material than they can accommodate themselves.

But even this element of the scheme has been marred. Many have still not received their green wheelie bins. Now Rother is saying the budget may not extend to a green wheelie for everyone who needs one.

Few public issues have stayed at the forefront of the local political scene for as long as this.

There is no sign of it abating. Rather, the pressure '“ notably via the Ask The Leader slot on the Rother website '“ is increasing.

Ask The Leader has introduced a new form of cut-and-thrust; one that is radically different to the letter exchanges of the past.

Users are becoming adept at referring back to previous question-and-answer exchanges.

While Ask The Leader affords the authority ample opportunity to explain its actions, the public nature of the exchanges means that, under persistent probing, admissions are being made publicly.

Had the taxpayers been told a year ago that green wheelie bins would go only to the fortunate and that those less fortunate would still be waiting there would have been outcry.

Had it been acknowledged then that their supply in mid-2008 would be subject to budgetary constraints there would have been outrage.