A Ross-on-Wye man is threatening to take the town council to task saying that the placement of a bin close to his home is disrespectful to the flags he regularly flies from a flag pole in his garden.

Martin Hayes, who has lived in Merrill Crescent in Ross since the early ‘90s, has had a flagpole in his garden and flown various flags, often in honour of a country or of the fallen troops for over ten years, but feels that he is unable to continue the practice as the proximity of the bin appears to him to be a mark of disrespect.

He now plans to dispute the bin placement decision and to raise his case with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Service.

Mr Hayes says the arrival of the bin, which is attached to a lamppost close to his home, came as a complete surprise, as it is completely unnecessary.

He said: “I’d been out and when I came back I couldn’t believe what I saw. There was a bin outside my house and I had a flag flying at the time. I thought - you can’t have that there.” 

“A councillor did come down when I complained and I told him I wasn’t happy about this as we’d had no notice the bin was going to be put there. We’ve been here over 30 years and never had a bin there before.” 

He added: “This bin that came from an area where they had no houses. They purposely moved it because they said someone complained.” 

Mr Hayes also feels that the fact the bin is often used by dog walkers to dispose of dog mess is something will be a problem in the summer when he has windows open in his home. 

He said: “When it comes to the hotter summers, all the flies which gather around the dog mess bin are going to come straight through our kitchen window and land on our food. They should put the bin somewhere else, it’s not fair”. 

Mr Hayes put his concerns to Ross Town Council, but he said the reply was “insufficient and too generic.”

“When they came down and I asked if the council should have asked us if we wanted a bin there, the councillor replied ‘we are Ross Town Council and we can do what we like’.

A Ross Town Council spokesman said: “I can confirm that the resident had previously only received an acknowledgement of the complaint, informing them that it was being investigated and a response would be provided in due course. The investigation has now been concluded and he has now received a letter of response.”

“There is a large hedge screen behind the bin and some distance between his property and flagpole and the bin”.

Mr Hayes says he has recently received a letter from the town council saying the bin will not be moved.

He now plans to raise the issue with MP Jessie Norman saying it is having a significant, detrimental effect on his mental health.

He said: “I feel I am getting nowhere. It’s affected my sleep at night and I am at my wit’s end. I’ll be going to a meeting in May with other residents in the community to discuss the bin placement and ask if anybody has actually requested it. I have a feeling nobody has. At the moment, I feel the council is purposely trying to antagonise me”.