Croydon’s litter chief Tony Brooks, Director of
Environment, has welcomed the report of the North Croydon Streets Commission as
confirming from residents’ perspectives what his staff already new, and making
many helpful recommendations.
This acknowledgement came during a constructive
dialogue with the 30 members of the public from several parts of the Borough who
attended the Croydon Communities Consortium meeting on rubbish at the Town Hall
on Wednesday (12 February).
The Problems and the Costs
Based on his presentation of the basics of the
problem and Council action, it is clear that the task of dealing with litter, rubbish
and fly-tipping is clearly an up-hill struggle. £ms are spent on household
waste collection, street cleaning and collecting fly-tipped materials. The refuse
collection and street cleaning contracts cost £15m and £5m a year. There are
148,000 domestic properties, of which 23,000 are in blocks of flats. In 2012/13
there were 11,150 requests to deal with fly-tipping.
Having outlined the scale of the challenge, Brooks
then explained the actions that were being taken including fixed penalty
notices, installation of alley gates, installation of additional cameras, visits
to properties. Extra resources had been allocated.
Business waste is an additional problem. Many traders
do not have a waste collection contract, put more rubbish out than is covered
by their contract or just leave sacks out for the Veola to collect. In addition
he suspected that some waste contracts did not collect trade bags as they
should knowing that Veola would pick it up.
The problem is worst in North Croydon, especially,
Thornton Heath, Bensham Manor, Selhurst and West Thornton.
100 hotspots have been identified. 15 have been
subject to special action which has resulted in considerable improvement e.g.
Tylecroft Mews and Zion Place. Special operations are due to take place along
London Rd from West Croydon to Norbury, and in Thornton Heath between 6pm and 1am,
involving a mix of different specialist Council workers.
Public's Views
Several questions were asked and issues raised.
It appears that the Council is charging places of
worship for collection of their waste although according to local church
activists at the meeting the Government had passed regulations requiring Councils
to treat places of worship as domestic not trade waste generators. One church
was being charged about £2,000 a year. Brooks said he would look into the
issue.
A resident explained the problems involved in trying
to re-cycle or dispose of small electrical goods. People without a car are not
allowed into the Factory Lane recycling centre.
Practical suggestions made included:
- Place small electrical goods recycling bins at the entrance to Factory Lane gate for use by people without cars.
- 20-100 hours community service cleaning up rubbish instead of fixed penalty notices for fly tipping.
- Council litter publicity to include the details of freegle/freecycle, and the need to ensure that door to door waste collectors are asked to show their Environment Agency registration details.
- Re-introduction of the former skip service to enable residents to get rid of unwanted items.
- Rethinking the range and type of bins.
- Abolition of the charge for the Council to collect unwanted bulky items.
I asked him what he thought were the reasons the
problem of litter etc seemed to have grown over the years and that the Council
faced an up-hill struggle to even get it to flatten out. I drew his attention
to the fact that in 2006/7 and 2007/8 the Council’s Government approved
Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy had included the need to tackle the litter
problem in the wards with most deprivation (mainly North Croydon). Given his
stress on the problems of North Croydon, and given the welcome given by both
party leaders to the North Croydon Streets Commission report and the intention
to have a scrutiny examination of it, I asked him for his reaction to its
recommendations.
Brooks said he had only been involved in Croydon
on the issue in the last 2/3 years. He thought that some of the reasons
included the growth in the number of flats, the degree of population change, landlords
leaving items on the street when they do refurbishment to flats between
tenants; the need to improve knowledge about recycling. He recognised the
problems faced by many tenants living in properties with inadequate bin
facilities. There will be further planning requirements on waste disposal
facilities for new build housing developments.
He doubted that the 2 weekly collection was part of the problem, but recognised
the problem of wind blowing things out of bins. There might be other causes of
which he was not aware.
The Commission report confirmed what his officers
knew. It made some strong recommendations, some of which need to be carefully
looked at such as the re-organisation of street cleaning to take place the day
after refuse collection. He recognised that many residents could not afford
bulky waste charges.
The meeting took place in meetings rooms in the
Town Hall having been moved from the Bernard Weatherill House community space
because of the need to use the latter for people evacuated from their flooded
homes in the south the Borough.
Croydon's Recycling Sites
www.croydon.gov.uk/environment/rrandw/recyclingsites.
Croydon
Freegle
To offer things you no long want that may be of
use to other please consider using Croydon Freegle (formerly Freecycle). This can
even include old bricks, pieces of wood which people use for their building
projects.
North
Croydon Streets Commission
The
report is at:
and
Commentaries on the Report’s Launch
Croydon
Communities Consortium
Discussion
on it:
I can be contact at sean.creighton1947@btinternet.com
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