Forum Topic

Rubbish Everywhere

I have never seen the little grass patch at the bottom of Berrymead Gardens looking so bad. There is rubbish, beer cans and Christmas Trees all over the place.Also Ealing Council waste bags littered all down the bottom of Avenue Road which have been there for a few weeks.

Tony Crumpton ● 2665d37 Comments

You can actually make reports through "My Account" on the LBE website if you register to do so.  It really just ought to be much much easier and quicker.  You are absolutely right about the reporting system fuelling the mess on the streets.The way people step over the mess on their way to sit on the tube and gaze at their phones still annoys me.

Philippa Bond ● 2649d

I've just reported a dumped mattress via the Complaints section of their website. You can't report flytipping except through their app (and I can't imagine my elderly smartphone will be able to cope with that) or by phone (and I have no intention of wasting my time and money) so I started right off with a formal complaint, and also added some terse words about their reporting system fuelling the appalling mess on our streets by making it so difficult for people to make a report!

Lorna Dodd ● 2649d

I originally followed the link from the council website, which then prompted me to log in to the My Ealing portal thing (or whatever it's called - maybe that is Ealing 24/7) and the fly-tipping report system sent me an email confirmation from 'Love Clean Streets'. Then the email notification of the completed (yet not actually done) job came from Ealing 24/7. All a bit confusing. So then I tweeted them last night and spoke to Mrs Stroppy Pants at the council this morning. I got a twitter response saying they would look into it so I'm guessing it was that rather than the rude council woman opening another case that got the job done. I think the only time I've ever got the council to respond to anything has been by following up my followups with tweets - seems you have to put everything in triplicate for this council. From visitor parking permit issues to missed collections to reporting rubbish etc nothing seems to be straightforward with this council and the stuff they come out with when you then waste even more of your time trying to phone them is either ludicrous nonsense or plain lies... "oh the contractor was confused by so much information" (idiots)... "they are running late with the collection this week" (never came)... "your bin was not presented" (yes it was they just didn't bother to take it). I never had an issue when I lived in LBHF... ahhh the good old days. I've had bins not taken for 3+ weeks because of the useless Amey or whoever it is they use who keep missing bins despite them being right in front of the boundary - also what's really infuriating is when they return your empty wheelie bin and place it right in front of your green food bin and then that doesn't get emptied because they can't see it! Useless numpties!! I do feel for the people who don't have smartphones because you are right - the system doesn't work and I do think tweeting them directly is the only way to get your voice heard.

Alicia Carlton ● 2649d

I meant to ask how you complained. The Ealing 24/7 app is supposed to be good and is definitely the way that the Council suggests that everyone complains.  It is only any good though if you have a smartphone - and many don't.Trying to use the website is horrific.  I had a look at it yesterday.  I always used to email Customer Services which I found good but that was before they had so many cuts.  I also used fixmystreet but they don't like that either because it needs an intermediary to relay the message. It has cut down my input which I'm sure they've enjoyed but everyone should be doing it and not just a few to improve everyone's living conditions - and all those seats full of people who when I go on the tube are busy fiddling with their smartphones are eminently able to report - and easily - but don't..  Shame on them. They can't all be illegal tenants or unregistered landlords! 

Philippa Bond ● 2649d

Not yet no but I think I may have to soon as living close to the high street we have a lot of loitering, anti social behaviour, loads of litter and fly tipping close to the corner of my road. Someone has actually just been to clear the fly tipped stuff - I am amazed and can only put it down to last night’s twitter rant! It certainly pays to tweet ealing council and EC customer services directly!!

Alicia Carlton ● 2649d

Alicia - have you contacted your Councillors?It may also be worthwhile talking to your neighbours - presuming it is not their waste - so that a group of you can complain.  There is strength in numbers.I notice that in Turnham Green there is a group going out to litter pick there this weekend.  I remember doing that in Acton in a group some years ago.

Philippa Bond ● 2649d

So true ,and the local councillors don't care we still waiting on street lights to be fixed .

John Kennedy ● 2649d

Just got off the phone to Ealing council to re-report the fly tipping. My god that woman was SO rude and stroppy, wish I’d got her name. So my original report was closed because apparently I’d given so much information on the form that the contractor was confused - what the actual hell? I gave an address with postcode, described the items that had been dumped and included a photo. Where’s the confusion? So now a week on from my original report of items that were dumped probably around Christmas I now have to wait until middle of next week to see if they might decide to action it as “we have to give them 48 hours and that doesn’t include weekends”.  This isn’t the first time I’ve had to try to report other people’s rubbish or missed collections, I’m so sick of it and fed up with litter floating into my front garden because the streets are never swept.

Alicia Carlton ● 2650d

" Ealing council is an utter disgrace "They don't think so, all their surveys and consultations tell them they're just wonderful - we're all ecstatically happy!Apparently.    :-)))))

Rosco White ● 2650d

I live near another rubbish hotspot in Acton - there are forever items of furniture and bags of crap being dumped on a road just off mine. I followed the links on Ealing council site to report the fly tipping last Friday - it had already probably been there at least a week or more. Got an email confirmation from lovecleanstreets saying it should be actioned in the next business day or so. Well nothing was done and all the mattresses, sheets, bed base, broken cabinets, loft insulation rolls, fridge drawers etc were still there when I left for work this morning (with ever increasing amount of beer cans etc) - I then received an email around 10ish saying the job had been completed. Fantastic I thought... but oh no just got home and had to tiptoe around all the same crap all over the pavement. Bloody liars- nothing has been done, nobody has been to sort this out - they have just closed the job. I am livid. I lived in Hammersmith & Fulham for 17 years, used to have my rubbish and recycling collected twice a week not this once every 2 weeks nonsense (when they can be bothered) and paid less in council tax there and the streets were always swept. Acton is just always filthy dirty in comparison and stuff is constantly dumped near my road as it is close to the high street. Ealing council is an utter disgrace - can never get hold of anyone and clearly the automated and online systems do not work.

Alicia Carlton ● 2650d

It was good when Jason Stacey walked around the area.  He intended for there to be notices attached to the lampposts just like they have in Westminster but unfortunately it never happened.  That was though before all the AirBnBs and so much online shopping.

Philippa Bond ● 2650d

The Conservatives proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that they were, and are, MILES better at running LBE than Labour.

Rosco White ● 2650d

Philippa - at present 'what we've got now in the Government', in relative terms, is a more competent, less officious and not disingenuous, unlike the moralistic hot air of inept Labour.Returning to 'Rubbish Everywhere', again speaking in an apolitical way, the Conservatives would probably be better at organizing rubbish clearance, and not blame others. And Philippa, I see what you mean about "spacial awareness" in your comment on 22/01/19.

Anthony Hawran ● 2650d

More of the same, but, tbh, I do hear the epithet "towering intellect" ascribed most often to Labour politicians.  :-)Disclosure: I resigned from The Conservative Party nearly ten years ago after more than twenty years membership. Like many people who are a bit "lost" politically, there is no party I am currently happy with, let alone would vote for.Meanwhile, back to "Rubbish everywhere."

Rosco White ● 2650d

Blimey - and what exactly do you call what we've got now in the Government?

Philippa Bond ● 2650d

is that Gordon "Towering intellect" Brown????:-)))))))

Rosco White ● 2651d

Philippa - Gordon Brown stated he had ended "Tory boom and bust", when he seemed to encourage high mortgage approval rates. Bad loans ensued. Financial regulation was lax. He seemed to encourage crony capitalism and in the process the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland received a knighthood in 2004.From 2008, banks were underwritten because of the crash. They have been paying loans back. Irrespective of this, lavish spending continued for the privileged top dog socialist managerial nomenklatura firstly, and on services secondary. Money ran out. That is why Liam Byrne wrote his note, when Labour left national goverment office in May 2010 -  "Dear Chief Secretary, I'm afraid there is no money. Kind regards and good luck! Liam"

Anthony Hawran ● 2651d

Bang on Mr Hawran! [Massive thumbs up emoticon here.]

Rosco White ● 2651d

And where exactly amongst all that is the bailing out of the banks?  How have you forgotten that?

Philippa Bond ● 2651d

And so socialist Labour lover Tony, Labour spent other peoples' money, via taxes on themselves first and on publicity to show off how virtuous they are, and then on the rest of the people as an after thought, until the money ran out.So long as the privileged top dog socialist nomenklatura in their offices, including in the NHS, are comfortable, they can afford to be pseudo virtuous poseurs who are useless at spending other peoples' money. There always seems to be a debt burden with socialism that spoils life for future generations.

Anthony Hawran ● 2651d

And Tory lover ANthony, they spent a lot of those years unwinding the rank under investment in schools and hospitals that the tories pitilessly cut whether there is need or not. Schools are largely much better places to be, hospitals of course need continuing huge investment.Your comment is not even simplistic, its just ignorant im afraid. Still you keep banging your drum and ignoring whats right in front of you

Tony Mansell ● 2651d

Labour was not responsible for the global recession referred to above. They had to deal with it.The cuts and the austerity regime put in place by the Tory government is not at an end yet despite Mrs May having "lost" George Osborne from her cabinet when she became Prime Minister and Mrs May announcing that austerity is at an end.  It isn't because those cuts are still progressing and continuing and according to reports in the Financial Times, the Independent as well as The Guardian (which you might expect) have gone on too long and are causing further problems.  Don't just react negatively - take a look.What gets me is the way that people seem to have such a lack of spacial awareness.  If you buy stuff online and it arrives in a cardboard box then it is your responsibility to flatten and dispose legally of that box - which should if the cardboard is clean be recycled!  Don't expect the collectors to go around flattening your boxes for you.  You and we don't pay enough Council Tax for your personal valeting service.

Philippa Bond ● 2652d

I noticed yesterday more box's dumped.

John Kennedy ● 2652d

Malcolm - When the last Labour government left office in May 2010, the outgoing Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liam Byrne left a note for his successor in the incoming Coalition government - "Dear Chief Secretary, I'm afraid there is no money. Kind regards and good luck! Liam"Irrespective of recessions, including the 2008 crash, after 13 years in power and all the fine and patronizing words Labour used, that is the legacy Labour left their successors in order to help people and carry out its responsibilities to them.

Anthony Hawran ● 2653d

Streets which are thoroughfares (e.g. Mill Hill Road) will always attract rubbish from those who are passing through and simply can't wait to get to the end of the street and put their can/carton/bottle in a bin there. People need to basically stop being so lazy, but we're talking a cultural paradigm shift here. And you can call me a 'Tory basher' all you want but, fact is, streets won't be cleaned to a decent standard unless we as residents all start being more vigilant and picking it up ourselves.

Malcolm Pacey ● 2655d

I know it's no consolation to the council tax payers in LB Ealing but in LB Hounslow where I have the unbridled joy to live, the state of the streets has deteriorated considerably with regard to litter/dumping etc.I doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that it may have something to do with fortnightly waste collection instead of in the good old days when it was weekly.

Keith Iddon ● 2655d

From last week's Labour Party meeting, we learned that Central Government has, since 2010, cut funding to Ealing by two-thirds. This has obviously had the drastic effect we're all experiencing. Worse still, my understanding is that funds will be fully cut within a few more years. We're going to have to get used to sweeping our own streets and collecting recyclables from the pavement as we walk down it.

Malcolm Pacey ● 2656d

I had to put a report in to the Council app the other day as my road clearly hadn't been cleaned for months (before this time it had been done regularly). I saw a guy a couple of days later picking the litter. So it's worth reporting it on the app as they do seem to take notice.

Tania Bapuji ● 2657d

At one time there were plans to put notices up on lampposts detailing the times that waste and recycling could be put out on the street - like they do in the City of Westminster. I can't imagine that that is cheap.

Philippa Bond ● 2657d

Perhaps they should revisit the tenancies.  Landlords should be providing the correct receptacles.It can of course go wrong when the collection suddenly changes - everyone should have their rubbish out BY 7am, and it should be on your own property and NOT on the pavement but when you are used them arriving at 8 or 9 or 10am or later then you could be surprised and miss the collection.  It would be good if people took the bother to be more aware of what they should be doing - and maybe the Council or their contractors could try to work more to the normal collection times.

Philippa Bond ● 2662d

It’s all very well reporting flytip on the 24/7 website, but if it just gets cleared without any further action, that just encourages more flytippers to dump more rubbish, without fear of sanction.The Berrymead Gardens/Avenue Road corner has been a flytip magnet for several years now and it’s high time the Council took some positive steps to prevent it. It must cost them (i.e. us) more to keep sending out their flytip collectors almost daily than to prevent it in the first place, so blaming “Tory cuts”  doesn’t wash.

Peter Millman ● 2664d

Having lived on Berrymead Gardnes for 5 years I think the amount of rubbish is getting worse, with cars parked on each side of the street, the rubbish (the majority of which clearly gets blown from the high street) is never cleared and is pretty unsightly. Given the ridiculous amount of fast food outlets on the high street, the council should surely have more bins and more local enforcement personnel rather than spending mega bucks changing the colour of our bins.. All quite depressing when I asked a kid no more than 10 years old not to throw his rubbish on the floor by the bus stop at 7.30am only for him to shrug his shoulders and subsequently chuck it on the floor of the bus 5 mins later,  even though at least 4 adults backed me up and told him to pick it up.... surely parents have to bare a lot of the responsibility for their kids acting in this way and not giving a shit.

James Nicholls ● 2664d

You can report this on the Ealing 24/7 app. I often report flytipping and it gets sorted quite quickly.

Lucy Smith ● 2664d

Last year the whole street received a letter from Ealing Council with respect to the fly tipping at the bottom of Berrymead Gardens and that they were monitoring the situation and anyone caught would be fined. It's getting to be annoying and unsightly now.

Tony Crumpton ● 2664d

Fly tippers. I've caught residents from nearby streets dumping their bin bags on our street after missing their bin collection. Very naughty.

Naweed Shams ● 2665d

Is there an "official" Christmas tree delivery site nearby?Is it marked up? I always thought that it would be good if there was a banner tied along the railings marking the corners of the parks that are allocated for this.  It would then be good to see the trees being chipped so that there is understanding of what happens.Where does the rest of the rubbish come from?

Philippa Bond ● 2665d

Seems that there is always rubbish thrown at that spot Tony ,and newton avenue and me on  road the same.

John Kennedy ● 2665d