To think cars and wheelie bins are big factors in why a lot of areas look terrible?

[Netamount]

Cars are everywhere - households with two or three. Front gardens concreted over, walls demolished to create parking. Streets double parked. New build estates (that should know better) with inadequate parking, so cars are everywhere. Narrow streets and attractive buildings demolished for relief roads and widening.

Most UK houses weren’t built with four massive bins in mind. Many don’t have easy access to the street from the back, so they have to be kept at the front, and look awful.

I’ve no solutions really (I have a car and four bins too), just wondering what other people thought?

@Mokel Yes - online delivery is a good option for heavy stuff or big deliveries. I don't need that much and I actually like seeing what I'm buying. However, I recognize that going round the supermarket brings lots of temptation. I take a list, try to stick to it, and (try to) avoid the middle aisle at all costs!

Same here: one bin for all recycling, a food waste caddy and then whatever people choose to use for general waste as the council doesn't provide bins for that.

Very few people in my street leave bins out. Some have a bin store and some keep their bins at the back (houses are all semis, so no need to drag them through the house). The woman opposite keeps all her bins on the grass verge, which enrages my NDN for some reason.

I concede it doesn't look very nice, and she could easily keep them at the bottom of her drive because she leaves her car on the street, but I don't let it bother me.
If more people started doing it, it probably would, especially as it's windy here and they sometimes blow around in the night.

Imagine if we had sensible urban planing, adequate shops near to residential areas,

That would be fantastic. My town (pop. approx 20k) has lost nearly all its useful shops. We no longer have a hardware or DIY store, or anywhere selling car bits, the only place that sells children's clothes or shoes is a small Tesco with a very limited range and there isn't a single greengrocery (used to have 5).

If you want any of the above, you have to go 8 miles to the nearest (horrendously busy) city or 18 miles to a big town that actually has useful shops.

But we do have an endless number of coffee shops, hairdressers and 3 health food shops. You could have 2 coffees a day for a week without going in the same place twice. And you could buy antiques all day long!

I don't need a car for "short" journeys, I walk and cycle to work for example, but that's because I chose to rent my office within a couple of miles of home. If I wasn't self employed, there are no workplaces within walking/cycling distance.

But longer journeys etc, a car is essential because the public transport is absolute crap around here, and unreliable. Try walking or cycling to a farm in the middle of nowhere miles away from a bus route!