On Monday my Conservative colleague Cllr Phil Doggart wrote in this paper calling for councillors to 鈥淭ake back control鈥. He cited examples from the secret Tour de France funding decision taken by the chief executive that I wrote about last week, to the lack of action on an all-party call to renegotiate with NHS Lothian on how we run social care services, and even failure to enforce park rules. I could add more very simple examples like the appointments at our recycling sites, which are a trade union demand. Or bins in parks being at the edges rather than where people need them because it鈥檚 easier to empty them. Neither are designed to make services more public friendly. Yesterday this theme cropped up again with the issue of bin hubs. While the decisions were about the World Heritage Site, it affects bin hubs throughout the city. Essentially the issue is that many residents want bin hubs placed away from their windows where possible. They want them sited where it is convenient for residents. But the report once again tried to rule out any options that would allow this. In many streets the obvious place to put the communal bins is across the road from homes when the street only has houses on one side. Yet our officers decided to bring a report rejecting this out of hand. They had a long list of 鈥渞easons鈥 which they said brought cost and caused road safety issues. They don鈥檛 want people crossing a quiet residential road to a bin even though most cross those roads regularly to get to parked vehicles 鈥 or even just the other side. Councillors tried to 鈥渢ake back control鈥 of this issue last November when we voted against officer advice. We agreed to listen to residents and community councils and change the criteria to try to meet residents鈥 wishes. This was after many years of some political parties using officer dogma to say it could only be done a certain way. I was grateful for the Labour U-turn in November, under pressure from us, as it finally allowed for more resident input. For once, the committee held its nerve. We listened to the public and told the officers to implement what we had agreed and re-consult residents. A small step but it will take a marathon of steps to change Council culture to one that puts the customer first. Cllr Iain Whyte, Conservative Councillor for Craigentinny Duddingston Ward, Leader of the council Conservative group