New Ash Green bins must go out in pink roadside zones from 12 October, as bin lorries stop entering garage courts. The rules, and the village's objections.
Bin lorries will stop driving into New Ash Green’s garage courts when wheelie bin collections start on Monday 12 October. Residents will instead have to wheel their bins to marked “pink zones” within 10 metres of the road.
Sevenoaks District Council is serving a formal notice on every household in the village. It says bins left anywhere else, including on garage forecourts, may not be emptied and will not count as a missed collection. Sevenoaks Online has seen the notice, the leaflet and the zone maps, which the New Ash Green Village Association sent us this weekend.
The Village Association says the rules ignore how the village was built. It wants lorries to keep using the garage courts where Residents’ Societies already allow them.
What the council’s notice says
The letter is signed by Trevor Kennett, the council’s Strategic Head of Direct Services. It is a notice under Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which lets a council set how and where waste is put out. It has been written specifically for New Ash Green.
Residents must present their recycling and general waste bins at a grouped point inside a pink zone that is:
- clearly visible from the road
- safe and easy for crews to reach
- within 10 metres of the road
- not blocking roads, access routes or anyone else
The notice asks neighbours and Residents’ Societies to agree shared spots. It says collection lorries “will not enter garage forecourts” because of their size, so the pink zones are tighter than the blue areas used for food waste since April.
Bins must be out by 7am and left until they are emptied. The leaflet says different lorries collect recycling, general waste and food waste at different times, which can change week to week. It tells residents to leave bins out until 4pm or until they have been emptied.
The zones are for collection days only. Between collections, bins must go back to the property. Where covenants or private land affect where bins can be kept, the council says that is for residents, landowners, Residents’ Societies or the Village Association to sort out.
What residents will get
New Ash Green gets the same bins as the rest of the district, according to the council’s estate leaflet:
| Bin | Size | Emptied |
|---|---|---|
| Green lid, recycling | 240 litres | Every two weeks |
| Black, general waste | 180 litres | Every two weeks, alternate week |
| Black and orange, food waste | 23 litres | Every week |
Garden waste subscribers put their bin out in the same week as general waste. Flattened cardboard can be stacked beside a full recycling bin. Extra sacks will not normally be taken.
The green reusable recycling bags stop on 12 October. The council says it will collect unwanted bags for recycling from early 2027. We looked at what the bags cost and saved in our earlier report.
Flats above the shops and some other blocks will have communal 1,100-litre bins instead. In a 22 September email to the Village Association, the council said it still needed details on where those bins would go. It asked for them by Monday 28 September so they could be in place for 12 October.
Why the Village Association objects
New Ash Green was designed in the 1960s by the architect Eric Lyons. Dean Gorton, chairman of New Ash Green Village Association, says it was built around footpaths and landscaped areas kept apart from the roads and garage courts. He says most houses do not face a road and the roads have no pavements. For 55 years, he says, the council has collected from rear garden gates and garage areas.
He told Sevenoaks Online the change will put “thousands of wheelie bins” into roads with no pavements, causing access problems for residents and emergency services. He says the walk from a back gate to the road is typically 50 to 120 metres for many homes.
The association does not oppose wheelie bins or recycling. “We accept that SDC has to introduce a new system,” Mr Gorton said. “The concern is about whether the new system is being imposed properly and reflects the physical design of New Ash Green.”
The association’s main points are:
- Garage courts. Some Residents’ Societies have said lorries may use their garage areas. The association accepts that some courts are unsuitable and some societies have refused access. It objects to a blanket ban that also covers courts where access is allowed.
- Lorry weight. It says the council first described the new lorries as larger and heavier. It says the council then confirmed in April that their maximum weight is the same as the current fleet’s.
- Assisted collections. It says elderly and disabled residents who have asked for help moving bins have so far had no answer.
- Timing. The notices are arriving only shortly before bins are delivered and the service starts.
How the dispute developed
The association has given us its account of the talks. It says the council told it in December 2025 that communal wheelie bins were the “agreed approach”, then accepted in January that nothing had been agreed.
A stakeholder meeting followed on 4 March. Food waste collections began on 28 April, with residents picking their own spots inside broad blue areas. The association says the council told it on 13 May that food waste had “gone encouragingly well”.
The association proposed on 3 July that the council simply mark the permitted garage areas on its route maps. It says the council rejected this on 7 August. Its reason, as the association reports it, was that crews, including relief and agency staff, could not be expected to follow different access rules across the village.
On 21 September the council told the association the pink zones were final. The council’s 22 September email says it had hoped to leave more time between letters, bin delivery and the start of collections. It says the wider delivery programme means “the timescales are now somewhat tighter than anticipated”.
What the council says
The notice gives the council’s reason. It says the village’s layout means lorries “cannot safely or practicably access every property or presentation location”, and the pink zones are areas close to the lorry route from which bins can be collected safely.
Updated 29 September: the council has answered our questions.
We asked Sevenoaks District Council why lorries will not enter any garage court, how bins will be kept clear of roads without pavements, how many assisted collection requests are waiting, and when letters, bins and communal containers will arrive. A council spokesman said New Ash Green “is a complex area for waste collections because of its layout, private land, and differing arrangements between its 24 Residents’ Societies”.
The council says it spent “many months” working with the Village Association and Residents’ Societies on locally agreed arrangements, looking at garage court access, presentation points, signage and communal facilities. “Ultimately, the detailed information needed to operate collection arrangements was not provided to us, and the Village Association advised that we should determine the arrangements,” the spokesman said.
Garage courts. There are around 100 garage courts in the village, the council says. Some Residents’ Societies allow lorries in and others expressly do not. “Asking our drivers to distinguish between the different areas would create an unnecessary risk of error,” the spokesman said. Signs to show which courts allow access were considered but not thought practical. “The safest and most reliable approach is that collection vehicles will not enter garage forecourts.” The council’s answer did not address the lorries’ weight.
Bins and the roads. The council says it encouraged communal facilities and shared presentation areas to cut the distance residents would have to move bins, but “a village-wide or individual Residents’ Society communal solution was not supported”. It says the pink zones “do not require bins to be left on the carriageway”. Residents are being urged to use grouped spots that do not block vehicles or emergency access, as they already do for food waste.
Assisted collections. Since April, when food waste collections began, the council has received 47 applications from New Ash Green. It has approved 21 and rejected three; 24 are still being considered. Residents who already have an assisted collection do not need to reapply. The council did not say how long decisions take.
Letters and bins. Collection days are not changing, the council says. Residents will get their new collection cycle, the Section 46 notice and a leaflet with a map “in the coming days”, and wheelie bins will be delivered before the new service starts.
Communal bins. For the small number of communal sites, including the flats above the shops, the council says it has “repeatedly requested” the property and site details it needs to settle how many containers are needed and where. “This information has not been provided to us,” the spokesman said. The council is working to install communal bins “as quickly as possible”, with temporary collection arrangements staying in place meanwhile. It did not say whether they will be ready for 12 October.
What it means for you
- Check your map. Each household should receive the pink-zone map for its area with the notice. Four maps cover the village: Ayelands and Millfield, Bazes Shaw, Farm Holt and Caling Croft, and Knights Croft.
- Agree a spot. Choose a grouped point inside the pink zone with your neighbours or Residents’ Society.
- Keep the seals on. Do not use the new bins until one week before your first collection. The council says collection days are not changing, and your new collection cycle comes with the notice.
- Ask for help if you need it. If health or mobility stops you moving a bin, apply for an assisted collection once your bins arrive (existing assisted collection customers do not need to reapply), at sevenoaks.gov.uk/assistedcollections or on 01732 227000.
The council’s district-wide rules are on its wheelie bin collections page. Our guide to Sevenoaks bin collection days covers the switch across the district, and the roadshow dates are in our earlier report.
Sources
- Sevenoaks District Council, New Ash Green Section 46 notice, “Your new waste and recycling service” (Summer 2026), with the estate leaflet and four pink-zone maps dated September 2026; supplied to Sevenoaks Online by New Ash Green Village Association on 26 September 2026
- Sevenoaks District Council, email from the Interim Waste Transition Project Manager to New Ash Green Village Association and stakeholders, 22 September 2026 (pink zones final, compressed timetable, communal bins, 28 September deadline); forwarded to Sevenoaks Online by the Village Association
- New Ash Green Village Association, timeline summary and email from chairman Dean Gorton to Sevenoaks Online, 26 September 2026
- Sevenoaks District Council, statement from a council spokesman to Sevenoaks Online, 28 September 2026
- Sevenoaks District Council, Wheelie bin collections from October 2026
- Sevenoaks District Council, assisted collections
Image: Over Minnis, New Ash Green, by Cameron Clark, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Over_Minnis,New_Ash_Green-geograph.org.uk-_1096504.jpg. It shows the original Span houses designed by Eric Lyons, not a bin collection. Graphic by Sevenoaks Online.
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