PACKED bins near Gorey Pier which attract rats and flies are a ‘public eyesore’ and should be removed, according to a shop owner.
Mark James, co-owner of Jane James – Coastal, a ceramics, arts and crafts shop, explained that a number of domestic- and commercial-waste bins had appeared at the bottom of the footpath to Gorey Castle during the start of lockdown.
He said that their ‘horrible stench’ could be smelt inside the shop.
Mr James added: ‘We have had a shop at Gorey for almost ten years and for the first seven or eight there was only ever one or two bins there.
‘However, when lockdown happened, more bins started appearing and that grew pretty quickly and now the whole area is full of commercial bins. There is a lot of food waste and it gives off a horrible stench which, at times, can be smelt from within the shop.
‘We have even had lots of flies and rats trying to get into our shop. One of our workers had to shut the front door at one stage to prevent a rat from coming in.’
Mr James called the bins a ‘public eyesore’ and said that they were the ‘last thing’ businesses needed.
‘The bottom line is that those bins should not be there. They weren’t there before and it was never a problem. I am not sure whose bins they are but there needs to be a better solution than just dumping them there,’ he said.
‘Admittedly the bins are emptied regularly, but even after a few hours of food waste being there the smell can carry through to the shop, especially when the weather is warm in the summer.’
Mr James said that he had explained the situation to the parish, but that ‘nothing has changed’.
He added: ‘This is also the main footpath to the castle.
‘It is so sad to see the iconic Gorey Harbour, which was a finalist in the 2018 Britain in Bloom competition, look this way.’
St Martin Constable Karen Shenton-Stone said that the parish had been working extensively over the past few months to find an ‘alternative and suitable location’ for the bins.
‘We have been in contact with Ports of Jersey and the Infrastructure, Housing and Environment Department, who are currently undertaking a survey to assess the most appropriate location for the bins.
‘We wrote to residents and business owners in November asking them to remove their bins.
‘However, some businesses do not have the space on their premises to house them,’ she said.
‘We really want to find a solution as quickly as possible, because it is an eyesore and in ideal world that area should have bike racks and lots of flowers.’
