Haringey Gardens - litter, rubbish dumped and street sweeping

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Permalink Reply by Betty Careless on April 8, 2015 at 18:31

I live near the Green Lanes end of Chesterfield Gardens and the level of fly-tipping and littering is appalling. By bank holiday Monday it was looking particularly disgusting.

John Forde (john.forde@haringey.gov.uk) from the council has been helpful, & if you report dumped rubbish to him it always gets cleared.  However there doesn't seem to be a solution to people dumping rubbish in the first place.  A camera was installed along with a notice about fines for fly-tipping but for some reason it isn't actually pointed at the area where everyone dumps their rubbish, so presumably has never caught anyone in the act, it definitely doesn't seem to have deterred anyone. One of the main problems seems to be the Mews blocks and flats above shops who don't have space for bins. Once they put rubbish on the streets it just becomes a magnet for litter and gets added to and piles up.  

We also have problems with the huge industrial waste bins used by the businesses that back on to Chesterfield Mews - they get pulled out onto the pavement of Chesterfield Gardens to be emptied, and tend to be left haphazardly blocking the pavement, generally with the lids open so they stink.  Again its a litter magnet and people start dumping piles of rubbish around them.  I would say that most days the pavement is impassable for pushchairs and wheelchairs because of the rubbish.  Plus it smells and it looks horrible. I've talked to John about it but apparently there's nothing the council can do about it.

Personally I'd favour something like the municipal bins they have in Brighton - although I guess that would mean we'd lose parking spaces.  At least they would be placed somewhere where they weren't blocking the pavement, and would be less ugly than hundreds of plastic bags of rubbish piled up.

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Permalink Reply by Penguin on April 8, 2015 at 20:39

Hi
First of all welcome to the area!
Im afraid this is just the way it is here. Haringey Council is terrible. Traders get their street swept every single day, residents twice a week if we're lucky. So called 'regeneration' here has failed.
There just a lot of people here who like dropping litter. They dont see it as something bad. It just 'Is' for them.
A bit like wanting 3 huge sat dishes on the front of their house.
I caught two guys flytipping a few months ago. I took a photo of them and their car in the act and they threatened me and my kids. Since then ive just stopped complaining. Not even the police were interested.

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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on April 8, 2015 at 21:12

You should join the GRA. They get things done in the gardens. They even get the local councillors attending their meetings.

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Permalink Reply by adeline on April 8, 2015 at 22:31

Thanks for the posts, helpful if a little dispiriting. I am trying to contact the GRA but have not yet had a response and their meeting dates for 2015 don't seem to be available online.
I think the municipal bins idea is a good option for some of the problems and many thanks for the email contact.
We're pretty geared up in my house for doing something about this and so will be talking things forward - any further typed and suggestions gratefully received.

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Permalink Reply by Tom on April 10, 2015 at 6:53

Thanks for this post and the replies. I completely agree that there is too much litter and fly tipping. A few bins placed along the gardens roads might help - especially near the green lanes end.

Also I agree that the big wheely bins that get left blocking the pavement are a real danger - I saw a pushchair narrowly missed by a van as a mother had to manoeuvre onto the road to get by. The council must act if there's such a grave risk.

If anyone knows the dates of the GRA please let me know.

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Permalink Reply by LondonN4 on April 10, 2015 at 7:58

You can sign up to the GRA. I got their meeting dates below from their email distribution list.

Next meeting: on Thursday 16 April 2015– 7:30pm to 9pm
At the Kurdish Community Centre on Portland Gardens

Other meeting dates for 2015:

Thurs 14th May - AGM​
Mon 8th June​
Tues 7th July
No meeting in August​
Wed 9th Sept
​Thurs 8th Oct ​
Monday 9th Nov
​Thurs 3rd Dec

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Permalink Reply by Penguin on April 10, 2015 at 10:24

I know you have good intentions but I'm afraid signing up to the GRA will not solve these problems. They have been going on for years and years. Putting more bins around will only attract more flytipping. We have many people who will happily live at home with mattresses and beds pield up in their front garden for months on end. How do you solve that.

And if I'm pushed on the GRA's ability to solve problems I'm afraid their choice of traffic calming on teh gardens has not worked at all. We are still plagued with speeding cars.

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Permalink Reply by BlaiseGV on April 10, 2015 at 22:44

I live opposite the gardens near Chesnuts school and we have a couple of favourite spots here two. I snap a photo as i walk past and load it via this app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.bbits.LoveHaringey

And things seem to get sorted within 48hrs. They even removed all the household bins which were colonising the pavement!

And yes I do feel I am barely having an impact but it's a quick and easy way to feel like I am trying :)

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Permalink Reply by Robert Pike on April 11, 2015 at 9:34

Only that issue has migrated into the flats on the corner of St Anns and Warwick Gardens.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Pike on April 11, 2015 at 9:33

I sympathise with you as I walk through Rutland Gardens each day and it does seem to be the season for the old sofas and mattresses to migrate in even greater numbers onto the street. The skips being used by the Homes for Haringey renovations have also become a magnet for junk. Another hot spot are the flats at the corner of St Anns and Warwick Gardens. Despite a new store being built it has stopped the problems there. I don't see any impact from the GRA on those matters. 

I have been using the council app to report what I see. However I don't see how this tackles the root causes of this plague.

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