A ROW over dog and litter bins on the Cades Farm housing estate in Wellington has highlighted anomalies in the way services are delivered for residents, says town councillor John Thorne.

Roads on the estate are still private, and therefore issues such as parking and speeding, or the emptying of litter bins on children’s play areas, cannot be tackled by local councils.

Somerset County Council says it will not adopt the roads and make them publicly owned until the whole estate is completed, and Taunton Deane Borough Council (TDBC) will not adopt the play areas until the roads are adopted.

Cllr Thorne said: “It seems odd to me that residents start paying council tax to the Deane and county councils as soon as their homes are built and occupied but those same councils will not provide some services which people are paying for.

“Following council logic, they ought not to be charging people council tax until the whole estate is completed.”

Cllr Thorne, who is also a candidate for the county council elections in May, said he was pushing for roads on the first phase of Cades Farm to be adopted now.

He said: “Cades is being developed in three distinct phases, each of which was the subject of a separate planning application and permission.

“Roads on the first phase have been finished and maintained for some years already, so I would like to see them adopted now.”

Cllr Thorne met developers Persimmon Homes last week after the company removed bins from the Cades Mead children’s play area following complaints from residents that the bins were not being emptied often enough.

The company has now put back the dog bin as it was owned by the town council, which paid for it to be emptied, but is refusing to replace the litter bins.

Cllr Thorne said: “While I pointed out that Persimmon is in breach of its planning permission by not providing litter bins, the company pointed out it could put back the bins but it is not required to empty them and the problems of overflowing waste would then continue.

“The bottom line is that the whole situation can be resolved once the estate roads are adopted by the county council, which is why I am pressing for that to happen as soon as possible.”