50+ fly-tipping hot spots in Haringey

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by 22bz4nw11dd9a on July 23, 2014 at 3:03

I agree with Clive. The Miltons have a very high population density and the pavement space is not adequate for the bins. We pay very high counsel tax in this areas and do not make huge asks in return. The frequency of the rubbish pick ups would greatly improve the access for all on the pavements as well as the general environment of these streets. The counsel need to stop ignoring the pleas of the residents which have remainded unanswered for years.

 

Very disgruntled!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on July 23, 2014 at 7:18

The Miltons have a very high population density and the pavement space is not adequate for the bins

Yes; I was sent the photo below by a Milton's resident, taken just yesterday, with the next collection now six days away:

"Photo of our rubbish as at 22nd July Tuesday,collection due in 7 days
5 people in property this week"

Notice the bins on either side. It's like this, up and down the pavement, on both sides and two streets-worth.

Also, a point made to me some months ago by a Milton's resident, is the prevalence of urban foxes – and I'm not talking about hot fillies. When these characters get into bins anywhere, they have a similar effect as with fly-tipping.

Highgate Councilllors will continue to press for an adjustment to the current regime in order to deliver an adequate service.

Councillor—Highgate Ward

Liberal Democrat Party

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Christopher Riley on July 23, 2014 at 17:43

As you may remember from previous posts the Miltons Residents Association has been lobbying Haringey since the new arrangements were put in place.  We went as far as taking the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman but whilst they were very empathetic they are process driven and Haringey had cunningly ticked all those boxes.

The RA still receives regular complaints about over flowing bins and side waste.  One resident has started to lose tenants as a result of the bad odours and flies from maggots.  We have issues of soiled nappies (photo) being dragged from the open bins by vermin and all sorts of spillages.

It is very frustrating for the neighbourhood that is blighted with this problem.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on July 23, 2014 at 22:51

Christopher, a resident has begun a separate post here on the Miltons' bin problem.

Permalink Reply by Susan B Chinn on July 23, 2014 at 16:17

Hot weather plus overdue collections reminds us that weekly collections of rubbish is vital. Having huge wheelie bins on roads without front gardens is offensive for anyone trying to walk past. Smaller bins, regular collection of household rubbish is what is needed. We already have very active rats in this area.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on July 22, 2014 at 10:51

John, from my own journeys in and across London my eyes tell me that the Koberclaim - "our streets are now among the cleanest in London" - is ridiculous.

But perhaps an independent sampling of the City of London and every borough would rank Haringey among the top sixteen?  Cllr Claire Kober gets it right? Counter intuitive I realise. But not completely impossible.

So I'm going on the evidence of my camera over several years, rather than memory.  By the way, I'm not dismissing your observations of roads in your own neighbourhood. The few snaps Zena and I have of dumping on Ladder roads don't contradict your judgement.

But here are some thoughts for your consideration.

First, it does matter that a single bag of rubbish is not a fly-tip. I give you fly-tips!!  To tackle a problem effectively it helps to have accurate and reliable information. What, where, who, when, how often, how and - crucially - why.

Second, while your two suggested factors are important and relevant, I suggest there are many more causes in play. Each one of which could suggest different fruitful solutions. Somewhere in HoL's back pages Liz Ixer gave an insightful set of pen-portraits of different types of litterer. Amusing, sad, but also pointers to possible ways forward.

Third, there's Michael Anderson's recent suggestion - to look at Camden - and by implication other places. Not to rank Haringey with complacent self-praise. But to look and learn. Michael is among several HoL members (including Liz Ixer, of course) who've asked how other local Councils with a similar demographic do - or appear to do - the same job better. Including in London, other UK cities and cities abroad.

HoL can sometimes be a crowd-sourced think tank.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Liz on July 22, 2014 at 9:37

Alan, regarding Asha's 'job' I think the fault is mine in misunderstanding your post. I thought you meant she was a policy officer for the LDs - in fact, I know she works for a charity as it's one in which I have a special interest and I follow on Twitter because of her flagging it up - so apologies for my causing confusion. 

Concerning the first point, I didn't mean Veolia's full remit but for clean up times for reported fly tips. Accord/Enterprise got it down to less than 24 hours eventually - Veolia are sometimes not picking up reported tips for 2 or more days meaning that multiple reports have to be made and more rubbish is collected around the dump. Street cleaning has slipped on smaller roads possibly because of the change of policy regarding when a road will be swept i.e. in response to requests rather than as part of a rota. 

As to resident- led solutions, there was no shortage of ideas in the old community champions meetings and sometimes the officers even acted upon them. What changed was the cut in enforcement and the lack of resources to act upon our ideas - even to the point of cutting the programme, although it now runs under a different form as environmental champions - I haven't been able to make it to a meeting yet so I don't know quite how it operates. But I don't want people to think they can't complain because someone will respond 'what would you do about it?' - it's an old political trick to sidestep the issue and one that's been used on me in many contexts to bat away the issues being raised. 

John, I'm not sure that the first of your reasons is wholly true. What I see a lot of is small fly tips of awkward things, not the sort of thing that goes in bins. Regular community clear ups, say once a month, might help people to get rid of the stuff that they can't dispose of.

Bags of rubbish are the same as they ever were I think. What is noticeable is that people are increasingly dumping whole wheelie bins of rubbish, presumably because they have got the wrong things in them and haven't been collected or have just got so manky from food waste that they stink up the garden which shows that people are still not engaging fully with the process. 2/3 of our waste can go weekly in the form of food, garden and recyclable things. However black bins continue to fill up with these things.

The multi-occupancy issue and high turnover of short term tenants means that its not enough to tell people once a year how the system works but must be a constant flow of information particularly at peak times e.g. when students are leaving and new ones looking for homes. Linking campaigns to times of year (another example is Christmas when people clear rubbish to make way for new things and have higher volumes of it) is one possibility. You can't change the demographic but you can change the way you think about working with them.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gordon T on July 22, 2014 at 9:46

Liz, yes, your last suggestion about repetition and reinforcement is crucial - and it's 'doable' by Veolia/the council at low cost. Timely leafleting by the Single Frontline teams, since they walk along the roads anyway checking parking permits and so on, could reduce the flytipping rate.

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on July 22, 2014 at 12:12

They don't check Parking permits, Gordon. And the Parking Wardens ("Charm Ambassadors" as I think of them) don't report dumping.

Even worse, there's a whole issue of staff failing to report the obvious. 

In May last year I wrote to Lyn Garner the Director of Environment, following my request for them to remove a street sign pointing to a Council service which had been shut two years previously. I suggested a need for staff to "reframe" problems - to stop seeing things within "blinkers" based on narrowly defined roles. For example, they may notice a pothole and a broken pavement; but not, "see" a blocked drain gully or a faulty street light nearby. Or maybe they report a problem but don't recognise recurring patterns - which mean that they're seeing a symptom and not looking for the cause.

I asked Ms Garner what other local authorities do about this. And suggested that although the smartphone app should have made it far easier to photograph and report streetscene problems with minimal extra work, this won't happen unless staff 'reframe' the problems they are used to monitoring and reporting.

(P.S. I have to confess that I can't get the things to "swipe" or find anything among the horrendously cluttered icons. I need a much simplified schmuck-phone. Any suggestions?)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gordon T on July 22, 2014 at 14:27

Ah, apologies, silly me; I assumed that an organisation called 'Single Frontline' really did encompass all the hi-vis vested workers you'd see on Haringey's streets and public areas. How naïve.  There I go, another silly-name-organisation 'gotcha'.

Still, opportunity for synergy, though, as proposed earlier??

 

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on July 22, 2014 at 15:52

Lots of opportunity. Will it happen? It might if Cllr Stuart McNamara is allowed to try it out. I know he very much supports such "synergy".

Sadly, Stuart has to work towards the Dear Leader and her close allies. And Haringey's political leadership is as useful as a waterproof teabag.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on July 22, 2014 at 17:16

Massive opportunities Alan. All staff with a street presence could easily be issued with a work smartphone that have restricted numbers (only to Haringey phones, contractors and the Police) and links to the Report It app just for starters. Failing that I bet there are storerooms full of old portable handheld devices that could be brought back into use.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page