What do you make of Stanley Park orange superbins?

Blackpool Council said it is using the bigger bins as part of a trial to save staff valuable time – but visitors have called for a rethink.

Carol Peters, who uses the park every day to walk her dog, said: “To me this is just ridiculous. Why are they doing something so stupid?”

The park currently has 56 bins, which the council said need to be emptied several times a day during peak periods.

Town hall bosses are now considering replacing them with a number of larger bins so staff in the park department – affected by cuts to funding – can concentrate on other tasks.

And despite admitting the trial bins are unappealing, they said ‘nicer’ ones would be installed if the trial is adopted in the long term.

Cabinet secretary, Coun Graham Cain, said: “During the summer the bins fill up very quickly and have to be emptied a few times a day.

“As this is very time consuming, and not the best use of staff resources, we are looking at other alternatives.

“As a trial, we have placed a number of larger bins in the park that can be emptied by machine rather than by hand.

“These bins would hold a lot more waste. This would mean visitors are never faced with a full bin. I understand that the bins we are trialling look quite brash. I want to reassure visitors to the park that if we were to purchase larger bins they would not look like this.

“We are very proud of our Grade Two heritage park and we would never do anything to negatively affect its appearance.”

But Mrs Peters, of Kempton Avenue, said the larger bins have already proved to be a failure – and even called for more smaller bins instead.

The 68-year-old said: “People are not bothering to walk to these bins and are just putting their rubbish on top of the taped-off bins. Who will be collecting all that rubbish? Any small child will find it impossible to even lift the lid of these big bins, never mind reach to put rubbish in. They are industrial sized!

“To be honest, I think they need more than 56 bins. I have never counted them but they are very spaced out. People are not going to go miles looking for a bin. They will just leave it on the ground.”

Opposition leader, Coun Tony Williams, said: “People have contacted me and I have seen the bins for myself, and they really are an eyesore.

“It’s OK Coun Cain saying they won’t do anything to spoil the look of the park, but they’ve already done it.

“If they are going to trial it, then trial it as it’s going to be.”

The council’s parks and open spaces service has seen its budget slashed by £631,000 over the last three years leading to a much smaller workforce.

As reported earlier this year, to much anger, the cuts also mean grass isn’t been mown at parks across the town, with cemeteries, Stanley Park, and the Prom given priority. But Coun Williams said: “It seems the council is using the cuts as an excuse for everything, from looking after children to highways to looking after parks.”