Caldwell Close seniors development approved with wheelie bin deal

A Green Point seniors housing development in a street too narrow for the garbage truck has revealed a little known manual pick up service paid for by Central Coast Council.

View of the Caldwell Close development.

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A Green Point seniors housing development in a street too narrow for the garbage truck has revealed a little known manual pick up service paid for by Central Coast Council.

The development application for eight cottages on land at 13-14 Caldwell Close was approved by council last night despite objections from neighbours who say the street is already too narrow for two cars to pass side-by-side, let alone the garbage truck.

On top of that the kerbside space is too narrow for 13 bins.

Enter Central Coast Council and it’s little known “wheel-in and wheel-out” waste collection service where the garbos walk in and get the bins, empty them and return them to the household.

Landscape plan for 13-14 Caldwell Close.

Because the service is usually offered to people who are elderly, infirm or disabled, the council does not charge for the service, but the waste contractor charges the council 35c per bin.

A report tabled at last night’s Central Coast Council meeting said the service was not regularly available and people who wanted to use it had to apply to council.

“Each application is considered on its merits,” the report said.

It is thought this is the first time the wheel-in and wheel-out service has been agreed as part of the conditions of a development application.

Speaking for the applicants at last night’s council meeting Timothy Tyrell said the cottages had been architecturally designed for the needs of seniors.

He said similar development elsewhere had not caused problems.

Speaking against the proposal, resident Belinda Oriss said her main concern was the narrowness of the street and likely congestion caused by the eight new dwellings.