Renfrewshire Council officers will be meeting Paisley town-centre businesses in the coming weeks as they prepare to introduce a policy that would stop commercial waste bins from being stored on streets and footpaths within a defined project boundary.
Policy aims and immediate changes
The draft ‘bins off street’ policy has been developed with the stated purpose of improving the town centre’s appearance, cleanliness and safety. Officers told councillors earlier this year that similar policies adopted elsewhere in Scotland and the UK have produced "much-improved environments" for residents and visitors.
Minor amendments were made to the draft after consideration by the council’s infrastructure, land and environment policy board. The revisions include an expanded boundary to encompass more of Causeyside Street and an extension of one of the permitted collection windows.
| Element | Draft position |
|---|---|
| Storage restriction | Commercial bins prohibited on streets/footpaths within project boundary |
| Expectation of traders | Bins to be kept within curtilage of premises |
| Boundary change | Expanded to include more of Causeyside Street |
| Collection window | One collection window extended |
Local reaction and accessibility concerns
Support for the measure has come from Paisley Northwest councillor Kenny MacLaren (SNP), who described the proposal as a "great idea". He said the move would help make the town look better for visitors and encouraged footfall, particularly important with Paisley Museum preparing to reopen.
“You want to encourage people into town rather than putting them off because there are big, manky bins everywhere,” Councillor MacLaren said. “You also have the benefit in an accessibility sense – which Shopmobility Renfrewshire has highlighted – because there are places where you can’t get a scooter or a wheelchair past and people have to go on to the road. That’s not acceptable, so this makes a lot of sense.”
The council’s environmental health and community safety manager updated elected members last week, emphasising the policy’s role in improving the environment for residents and businesses. Officers will now hold business visits to explain requirements and boundaries and to discuss how traders will manage storage on their premises.
Practical issues for traders and enforcement
Under the draft principles, businesses would be expected to store bins within the curtilage of their property and to confine emptied containers to defined collection windows. The policy paper noted that large, brightly coloured containers left on pavements can obstruct pedestrians, mobility scooter users and people with pushchairs — raising both safety and accessibility concerns.
- Traders will be visited by council officers to discuss the new rules.
- Bins must be kept on private property rather than public footways inside the boundary.
- Collection windows will be regulated, with at least one window extended in the draft.
The council has signalled that the approach follows practice in a number of other towns and cities where off-street bin policies have been used to improve town-centre environments. Details on enforcement mechanisms, timescales and any financial or practical support for businesses to comply were not set out in the update provided to councillors.
What this means for Paisley
For shoppers and visitors, the policy aims to remove visual clutter and reduce obstructions on key thoroughfares. For businesses, it will require changes to how waste is stored, potentially prompting alterations to back-of-house arrangements or storage space. For residents and groups representing disabled people, the stated improvement in accessibility is an important consideration.
Councillors will continue to be updated as the officer visits proceed. Further detail on implementation and any formal adoption of the policy will be reported as it becomes available.
