WHEN will North Herts District Council (NHDC) start listening to taxpayers? That s the million dollar question. In this week s Comet, yet again, fortnightly bin collections are being blamed for maggot infestations and, yet again, the council is refusing t

WHEN will North Herts District Council (NHDC) start listening to taxpayers? That's the million dollar question.

In this week's Comet, yet again, fortnightly bin collections are being blamed for maggot infestations and, yet again, the council is refusing to listen.

Instead, NHDC is choosing to churn out the standard response it has heavily relied upon since fortnightly rubbish collections were introduced in October last year. The council insists that those who use wheelie bins and keep the lids shut are highly unlikely to encounter problems with maggots. But for those who have been faced with infestations, this reasoning is wearing thin.

Suzanne Andrea, of Broom Grove in Knebworth, found the unwelcome guests in her brown wheelie bin. The lid had been kept closed but, as she explains, wheelie bins do not have tight seals so flies can still get into them.

In the financial year 2007/08 there was a 95 per cent increase in complaints to NHDC compared to 2006/07, with a whopping 537 - 63 per cent of the total - recorded against waste management.

So when is the council going to start listening to taxpayers by reintroducing weekly rubbish collections, if only during the hot summer months?