TENS of thousands of new council wheelie bins are being stored on land owned by Tesco, despite the supermarket giant having controversial plans for the site.

Welwyn Hatfield Council has used the land on the former Shredded Wheat complex, in WGC, to house the 90,000 bins ahead of a borough-wide rollout.

They are set to be given to residents as the council switches to fortnightly rubbish collections, with each household receiving two new bins. While the deal, ahead of councillors discussing proposals for the Broadwater Road site, may come as a shock to many, it is one the council has referred to as purely commercial.

A council spokesman said: “The bins are at a secure location for short-term storage for which the council is paying a commercial rate of rent.”

But the arrangement was blasted by the WGC Society chairman Shaun O’Reilly, who said this would look and feel wrong to residents.

He said: “The council should avoid commercial dealings with Tesco, especially regarding the Broadwater Road site, while its own planning department is considering a major planning application from that company for the same piece of land.

“It looks as if the council is working too close for comfort with Tesco already.”