“Waste expert” Henley-on-Thames deputy mayor resigns over ding-dong about a decision over 22 new ‘heritage’ bins; two of the bins are remarkably solar powered and in total are set to cost a staggering £19,000
Last October, we featured a ritzy Christie’s auction where five secondhand waste bins sold for the astounding sum of £33,900. God knows who the rubbish loving buyer was, but if they’re looking to contribute to a local community, Henley-on-Thames has been having a bit of a ding-dong over its bins since October 2020.
Featured this week on the Facebook group ‘Angry People in Local Newspapers’ and in the Henley Standard and Henley Herald newspapers also, the now widely told tale of “Henley’s 9/11” meets “Bingate” (as it has been branded) provides illustration of how small-minded busybodies can cost a community a fortune and divide its occupants.
Concerning the plainly much discussed matter of what to replace 22 ‘heritage’ litter bins in the town with, “The Great Henley Bin Scandal” descended into chaos last week when councillors argued over whether to buy new, larger bins or refurbish existing old ones. The first costly proposal, which was ultimately accepted by five votes to three, was set to cost £19,000 whilst the alternative would have come in at just £6,000.
Of this dirty and somewhat dastardly saga, self-declared “expert about waste in Henley” councillor and deputy mayor David Eggleton – a gobby grandad who runs a house clearance and removals business as well as having “been in many popular soaps” as an actor – whimsically whined to the Henley Herald:
“I think the report was misleading and taking out the option of refurbishing is not democracy. I have the knowledge and expertise around waste and they are not listening to me.”
“I think a proper survey over 6 months should be carried out on which bins are overflowing and where we need bigger ones. This can be easily done by asking the bin collector to do this, but after we are out of this pandemic.”
“I don’t think it’s the right time to do any trial as there is much more takeaway rubbish at the moment. The other thing we need to address is residents fly tipping their household rubbish in the town’s public bins. I’ve caught people on lots of occasions doing this.”
Concluding about why he’d thrown his toys out of the pram and left the Henley Residents Group (or ‘HRG’ to its few friends), Eggleton “stormed away from his camera” after pathetically blubbing:
“I’ve resigned because a few of the HRG councillors are making me uncomfortable to work with them.”
“I don’t think councillors Miller and Gawrysiak have got the expertise to put those bins where they’ve located them – end of story, leaving the meeting goodbye… And I can tell you something else as well. Just before I leave, I’m resigning from HRG. Okay, goodbye.”
Responding as to why refurbishment was vetoed, another councilor, Sarah Miller, less than optimistically opined: “I believe that the bins have come to end of their life. We could be talking about this again in a year’s time.”
God help the people of Henley-on-Thames if that ludicrously proves to be the conversational case. Instead, we suggest, a complete clear out of councillors might henceforth be the least rubbish solution.
Pictured top: An example of a bin in Henley-on-Thames and rubbish obsessed councilor David Eggleton (right).
