Forum Topic

Enterprise - FAIL

We live opposite the South Acton Recreation Ground. The leaves funnel up our street in the autumn. The pavements are already ankle deep. I wrote to the Council in August to ask them to ensure that Enterprise were prepared and resourced to deal with the autumn leaf-fall, given their pisspoor performance since April. What a joke. The previous contractor, May Gurney, had a 3-man team out at 7am, 3 days a week, around Bollo Bridge Rd, Newton Ave and Brouncker Rd, sweeping, bagging and collecting the bags during Oct/Nov.I informed the Council that they needed to ensure that leaves were not allowed to build up on pavements, as they would be a slip hazard and the Council could be liable for personal injury claims if they did not make sure that Enterprise kept the streets swept to a basic, acceptable standard.Whoops! Owwwww! My back!

Peter Millman ● 5066d219 Comments

My road was done on one side, in a most haphazard way, while the other side was left.  It was entertaining watching them work, leaning on their brooms having a chat with each other.  Could there be an easier job for these loafers?  Who's paying for this poor service and, how many temps are employed, at inflated rates to the agency, who supply these idlers?

Nicola Howard ● 5066d

Who's paying for this poor service? We suckers are. It's time to mobilise Ealing council tax payers to withhold the amount hypothecated for environmental services until they start delivering the services. Starting April 2013. Or the Council should terminate the 15 year contract with Enterprise, who are utterly useless and manifestly in breach of their performance targets. No surprise there. They have a track record nationwide of pathetic failure to deliver aka ripping off taxpayers.And that tweeting puffball of a Council leader, Julian Bell, should hang his head in shame, along with with his Deputy Under Secretary for Bin Bag Collection, Bassam Mahfouz.

Peter Millman ● 5066d

Totally agree, Peter.  15 year contract???  What?  Why?  How?  Is that allowed?  15 years.....and then, after 4, whoever gave them the contract could well be out on the ear and the other party ruling.

Angela White ● 5066d

Yet again our street is littered after yesterday's refuse collection.  The Council liaison person keeps telling me that in recent weeks there have been no complaints about this matter and I'm the first.  Obviously I'm to blame and I need my eyesight testing.  So, today I took photos to send to them.  Argue with that!

Angela White ● 5059d

Yesterday in Goldsmith Avenue the road sweepers arrived BEFORE the refuse crew had done they job.  So, guess what, clean road am - dirty road pm.Enterprise have the street sweeping schedules wrong - else the sweepers are doing what they want - with NO SUPERVISION.

Dee Cook ● 5059d

I am being told by R Williamson that this is now history and they're getting it right.  Clearly not.  My guess is most people are too busy to complain to the Council or just don't care.  Either way Enterprise win.

Angela White ● 5059d

Angela, we both know that people cannot be bothered, because they don't see there is a problem.  They are too busy using their mobile telephones, else are plugged in to their music machines to notice anything?  The are oblivous to anything other that what they are personally doing.The problem is that those who continually inform the Council of its defects get labelled as 'serial' complainants and are not taken seriously.  Most of those taking complaints no doubt are of the type described above, else do not live in the Borough.

Dee Cook ● 5058d

I think that's a bit unfair on us serial complainants - and the council.I report through streetwatchers - a bunch of serial complainers if ever there was one - and find the response to be always courteous and productive of action - though not as speedily always as I would wish.

Sara Nathan ● 5058d

Unfortunately Sara, I think Dee is correct on this.  Most serial complainers will eventually go away.  It's an assumption that is taken at one's peril.

Angela White ● 5058d

I've just had a reply from R Williamson and Enterpirse have been out to remedy the lack of cleaning in our street.  I went to litterpick the leftovers today but found they'd been there before me.  If only they could get it right on the day.  There is too much room for mistakes when you have the collection and the clean on the same day.

Angela White ● 5058d

Oh I agree - it's maddening, wasteful and inefficient. And I don't understand the rationale. I asked one of the guys and he shrugged and said teh rota for the two tasks were done by two departments who don't talk to each other.I think streetwatchers still meritorious for those exercised about our local environment.I wonder if those heaps of blue bags at the bottom of goldsmith road have gone yet - have reported them three times!

Sara Nathan ● 5058d

Leaves still piling up. Now knee-deep. The Council are evidently not taking this seriously. I've given up complaining.  At least the leaves will biodegrade by Spring 2013 and the Enterprise contract can be re-tendered in 2027. Something to live for...

Peter Millman ● 5058d

Perhaps Enterprise will bio-degrade too!  I would never give up complaining.  Easy for me to say and harder to do, but people bank on that, don't they.

Angela White ● 5058d

Peter,Enterprise will be coming to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday 15th at 7.45pm to eat another portion of humble pie.  The officers report makes pretty harrowing reading:http://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/1477/item_7-environmental_services_contractThe meeting is open to the public and typically the chairman will let members of the public speak for three minutes each, especially if they notify the chairman in advance.  More details here:http://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/1477/item_7-environmental_services_contract

Phil Taylor ● 5055d

Grim reading indeed. But even in this critical report they state that leaf cleaning is "operating successful" (sic).Not down by the South Acton Rec it ain't. May Gurney could teach Enterprise a thing or two about leaf cleaning: conscientious, hard working blokes with brushes, 3 times a week is what it takes. Not fancy street cleansing machines that only touch the middle of the road and miss the pavements and gutters entirely. Pathetic.Unfortunately I can't make Thursday's meeting. But I have asked Abu Qatada to attend and represent the disgruntled, knee-deep-in-leaves, residents of this street. Should be a bit lively... "Members are advised that from 15th October, street cleansing operations have been supported with further increased resources to ensure that a bulk clearance of leaves is made during scheduled street cleansing.  At the time of writing the report [end of October] indications are that both leaf clearance and the leafing programme are operating successful, [especially as a result of the increased mechanisation that Enterprise have introduced] and officers can report that the majority of the collected leaves are being sent for composting as is required by the contract."

Peter Millman ● 5055d

Hope they are not collecting Ash tree leaves for composting.

Bob Crossley ● 5055d

If they don't collect the leaves on the grass in Springfield gardens soon the grass will die. They haven't been collected since the first leaf fall.

Bob Crossley ● 5055d

They were in there this afternoon with, a blower.

Nicola Howard ● 5055d

Everything I've read states that it's only in the summer that Ash Tree disease is infectious.

Clare Gittins ● 5055d

Well one pile of blown leaves nothing else touched. The leaves are too wet to be blown.  Needs men with rakes or machinery.

Bob Crossley ● 5055d

The pile of crud from the bottom of Goldsmith Road has now gone - between me going shopping and coming back - but it took about four contacts over nearly a week to get it shifted. Apparently they couldn't find it!Bl***y great heap it was too.

Sara Nathan ● 5054d

...and at least 5 emails from myself as well.....

Dee Cook ● 5054d

As Bob said, the leaves are too wet for their fancy new system. They 'did' our street yesterday and left 50% of the leaves behind stuck on the pavement for precisely that reason. Needs a nice old-fashioned stiff brush!

Lorna Dodd ● 5054d

Streetsweepers in Goldsmith Avenue this morning - after main recycling but before rubbish or plastics collection.What on earth is the point?

Sara Nathan ● 5053d

Sara, perhaps they are clearing up the rubbish left behind from last weeks's collection?

Dee Cook ● 5053d

I raced back to my computer to report the very same in our street.  Cleaner/litterpicker sweeping up all the debris and the collections haven't even be made yet.Robin Williamson.....I hope you're reading this thread.  I am blue in the face reporting the same old story week in and out.  As Sara says, what is going on?  It is simple not good enough.Are we to have 15 years of this misery?

Angela White ● 5053d

Bromyard Avenue and surrounding streets are ankle deep in leaves, when they are wet the are lethal, someone will break a leg!!!!! and what will the coincil say then?

Diana Oneill ● 5053d

I too have noticed how many mushy wet leaves there are around, more than usual.  Dangerous beyond acceptable.

Angela White ● 5053d

Definitely one for Julian Bell at the CCA AGM next week - 21st November.Boy are we building up a list of topics!

Sara Nathan ● 5053d

Other Council's supply the refuse/recycling crews with BROOMS in order that they can clean up their own mess.Problem solved.  No need to street sweepers to follow the refuse crews - thus saving the Council Tax Payer some pennies!By the way it annoys street sweepers intensely that they have to clean up their colleagues waste.

Dee Cook ● 5053d

You're too sensible for this world, Dee.

Angela White ● 5053d

SaraWill David agree to an extension of the hall, as there seem to by so many problems, we could run out of time?!!!Order! Order!

Nicola Howard ● 5053d

Please NO!Some of us have a day's work to do first and next day and turn into dormouse quite soon after 2130.

Sara Nathan ● 5053d

It is not only the streets that are being left in a mess. There are three little Council garden areas in Horn Lane near the Mermaid  car wash, and a bit around the Acton notice board. These are full of cans, bottles, cigarette boxes etc. No-one seems to realise these need cleaning too.As a Streetwatcher I will report this as I have done in the past - you would think they would have got the message by now, but it seems not.Today there was a street cleaner down that end of Horn Lane, but all he seemed to be doing was randomly picking up odd bits of litter with his 'litter picker'. What has happened to the old fashioned method of SWEEPING the streets to remove the cigarette ends, etc.? I think the brooms are only used for leaning on while they have a chat!

Amanda Knights ● 5053d

Fallen leavesBusy doing nothing

Nicola Howard ● 5053d

Hi Nicola.  Great photos......I just think it's unfair to photo someone who:a) may be taking a legitimate break or even a swift soft drinkb) may have been working hard c) is taken out of contextI think it doesn't reflect integrity, sorry to say.  I may be wrong.  I just feel uncomfortable with it.  I am not happy at all with the street cleaning, nor the leaf piles, nor the neglect (as Amanda says).  I too am a Streetwatcher and I've noticed the state of our streets going down again over the past few months.

Angela White ● 5053d

a) may be taking a legitimate break or even a swift soft drinkWatched him for fifteen minutes, before taking the dog out, came back after an hour and, he was still there, firmly planted in the same position.  Also on his mobile phone.

Nicola Howard ● 5053d

Ok, you witnessed that.  However, you still don't know he wasn't on his break.  Even if he were taking unnecessary time-out, I still don't think it's wise to publish a photo of him doing so.  Just me.

Angela White ● 5053d

Are those 'new' brooms or is it just that they don't get used very often!

Dee Cook ● 5052d

One chap I saw today had a broom that looked more like a feather duster..not a sturdy street sweeping broom. And with tools like that, sweeping effectively looked wholly impossible.Right, off to Birmingham. I wonder if their streets are cleaner

Sara Nathan ● 5052d

Birmingham so swamped by roadworks, I couldn't tell.I saw FIVE chaps with brooms and carts between here and the park this morning...maybe they were just pushing towards their rounds - but it looked hopeful.

Sara Nathan ● 5052d

As I reported to the Council, the litterpickers arrived before the collections this week, once again.  I am fed-up with complaining and Robin Williamson must now have run out of apologies as he's not even replied to my latest complaint.Today my 4 year old daughter and I, along with matching kiddie's and mum's litter picks, cleaned our street and the 2 surrounding streets of all the debris left there since Thursday.  2 very large bags full and 50 mins of cleaning.  Poor daughter and so patient.  As Colin Carroll says, I really do have a halo and it really did get a polish today.  Ditto daughter's.  However, it's not good enough.  I refuse to live in squalor and when that rubbish isn't one's neighbours fly-tipping or littering but our own Council, I am not amused in the slightest.Wish we'd had a photograph of us both, litterpicks in hand.  By the way, it wasn't my idea that she join me or we go litterpicking but my daughter's!  Like batty mother, like batty daughter.

Angela White ● 5049d

Well done  team-White!I wish they the council would admit defeat and go back to cleaning the following day. Though they probably can't because of overtime costs due to underbidding or something.

Bob Crossley ● 5049d

Hope you invoice the council.  Living wage plus wear and tear on shoes.

Nicola Howard ● 5049d

Today I saw 3 street cleaners in my street so I rushed out to tell them they were too late.....my 4 year old and I had already done it and to tell their boss this was the case should they wrongly assume my complaint wasn't valid due to the street being so clean.I've had a reply from Robin Williamson who says once the left fall period has passed in around 2 weeks they will return to the steady cleaning they should follow collections 100% of the time.  This negates what I was told previously - that I was the only one complaining (read into that, it's unusual for Enterprise not to get it right), which isn't the case.  This isn't good enough.  Are the Council saying that once we have leaf fall we're doomed?  May Gurney, for all their faults, got it right during leaf fall.  They would often leave their bags of leaves piled by the road for a couple of days (yes I complained) but at least they were swept up!!Princes Gardens, W3, is slippy and dangerous with all the leaves that haven't been swept and are now like banana skins over the pavements, greens and road.  Hello?We have 2 issues here:1) sending the cleaners out on the same day as collections isn't workings) the quality of clean, if done, isn't good and leaves aren't being swept away, which is dangerous too.I think the Council with Enterprise are in crisis.

Angela White ● 5049d

Leaf fall happens every year.  The Council should have on its shelf a programme of action for when it happens, which can be any time usually between September-November. So, it would appear that the Council does not have such a plan. What will happen if it snows?  Does the Council have a plan of action sitting on its shelves ready for such an occurrence?  I fear not.Interesting times.

Dee Cook ● 5049d

This negates what I was told previously - that I was the only one complaining (read into that, it's unusual for Enterprise not to get it right), which isn't the case______________________________________________________________________________.Porkies to keep you quiet. I have been complaining most weeks,

Bob Crossley ● 5049d

I have no faith in or respect for this Council.When is the next election, please remind me?What do these officers?  Bob, it hasn't kept me quiet, so even that strategy of theirs doesn't work.

Angela White ● 5049d

I have sent the following email to numerous Councillors, Head of the Council, interested parties and the Head of Environment:Dear Robin and Councillors,For weeks now I have been reporting that my street and those around it have had the litter pick/street cleaner arrive before the collections have happened.  Each week we've been left with debris still on our pavements, gutters and roads and as I cannot bear that, I go and clean it myself.  Again, last Thursday, it happened once more.  My 4 year old daughter and I went and cleaned it yesterday (she has her own litter pick from M&S) and came back 50 mins later with 2 big bag fulls.  Below, is a reply from you Robin, which, rather than placate me, does rather the opposite.  Are you saying that Enterprise cannot cope with leaves falling in Ealing?  Are we to expect the same for snow?  Simply put:  Acton's streets (not just mine) look more unkept than I can remember in many years.  I have noticed a vast decline in the cleanliness of our streets and I can only assume it's Enterprise with their street cleaners arriving before the collations take place and their now stated inability to cope with autumn.To my mind we now have a crisis.  I, along with many others in our area, worked tirelessly with the previous governing Council to get our streets to a state where they were clean and free from litter most days of the week.  Everyone was happy.  What we have now is the broken windows effect….people see the streets not be cared for so don't think twice about chucking another piece of litter to the mounting piles.It's an absolute disgrace.  I will not leave it there.  I cannot see my own time and effort be trashed like this.  Many of us worked hard to get the "Filthy Acton" status changed in Acton (do you remember the Filthy Acton thread on ActonW3.com?)  And now we're back to Filthy Acton, I'm sorry to say. I look forward to a more acceptable reply, outlying a workable plan with Enterprise.  Quote from Einstein:  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results.

Angela White ● 5049d

We should be making sure that our individual complaints go to the same people. Does anyone have the e-mail addresses of the council officials responsible for this street cleaning crisis?I've been using the council website to report problems and that has achieved nothing. An earlier post suggested that the council are planning a big clean up when the last leaves have fallen. That's not a strategy, that's an admission of incompetence. It's totally unacceptable to leave streets unswept for weeks on end because of leaf fall.

Peter Millman ● 5048d

Not to have extra staff from the great pool of the unemployed for a few weeks written into the contract is beyond belief. Did these Council Officers not check the contract before it was signed? Leaves on pavements can be slippery. Health and Safety? Council liable for children and oldies slipping. I should love to know which insurance company covers the Council for injury to the public.According to the internet contact details for the key suspects arewilliamsonr@ealing.gov.uk 020 8825 5710His bossEarl.mckenzie@ealing.gov.uk 020 8825 5194Notification of service failures plus at the same time FORMAL complaints (EVEN BY PHONE) to them, or the general number if you cannot raise them, in large volumes EACH week will force change for the better.

George Knox ● 5048d

When you email these officers cc customers@ealing.gov.uk so the complaint is also logged.

Bob Crossley ● 5048d

Bob, you may be missing the point and if so it is a fine one. Emailing a service failure is one thing. Logging it as a complaint is quite another. No Council wants to log FORMAL complaints because it shows up nationally, and Ealing has a pretty dismal record.You have to say it is a formal complaint and get them to log it as one. If you say it is a service failure I doubt it will be logged (as you say) as a complaint.

George Knox ● 5048d

Hi George.  This is a very good point and I hope other residents take note and lodge complaints rather than ask for the litter/fly-tips, etc to be picked up.  This is why I have escalated this matter.  I have been emailing Customer Services but after a couple of times I then emailed Robin Williamons to complain.  I believe he then has to log that as a complaint, correct?  Now I've escalated it even further by copying those up the ladder in on it.  Do I have to use the word "formal complaint" when emailing, do you know?

Angela White ● 5048d

The last time I emailed customers@ealing.gov.uk, earlier this month, I got the foillowing reply: 'The customer services email is no longer in operation and replying to this email may delay your report being logged as it is not always monitored.'One way of reducing complaints, I guess...

Lorna Dodd ● 5048d

You mean this cop out message!This mail box is now closed and your email will not receive a response.The fastest way to access council services is via our website.Please use one of the following  links to contact us depending on your enquiry:Report a missed refuse or recycling collection:http://www.ealing.gov.uk/site/scripts/xforms_form.php?formID=74&language=enOrder new recycling containers:http://www.ealing.gov.uk/site/scripts/xforms_form.php?formID=75&language=enSubscribe to the Garden Waste Collection Servicehttps://gwaste.ealing.gov.uk/gwaste/gw2.aspxReport a variety of problems or request services through our online forms: www.ealing.gov.uk/reportitFind out more about council online services:www.ealing.gov.uk/doitIf your enquiry is regarding a FOI request please resend your email, to FOI@ealing.gov.ukIf you cannot find the service you wish to access on line,, please contact us on  0208 825 6000.Kind regards,Customer ServicesEaling Council

Nicola Howard ● 5048d

I was surprised to hear that a phone call to customer services about a service failure was, at the SPECIFIC request of the caller, also treated as a formal complaint. She tells me she got a letter in writing which is what happens under the complaints procedures. So a phone call worked.However I would always write or email the manager (but never to Customer Services) and on each, and every communication include the heading 'Fornal complaint'.As previously advised on these websites there are 3 levels of complaint before you will be entertained by the Ombudsman. That is why it behoves you to put every single little detail down in the first approach, so that you don't have to (most boringly) keep adding stuff as the correspondence proceeds. It then is miles easier at each step to say nothing more than, sorry not good enough, next complaint level up please.I have just seen the latest post.The consequence is never use the customer services email function (if it works). Just phone them and say also it is a complaint, OR go straight to the complaints page which in one shape or annother has always been there.http://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/100004/council_and_democracy/516/complaints/2In these forms there IS space to describe the complaint. In the forms mentioned by Nicola there is no space and so they will never fall into the complaints stats.Then choose the form which best suits your issue.All this falls into that ancient category -'if a job's worth doing, etc etc.'.If you need more commentary then fine, but I am dying for a late banana and custard please. And if that's not enough a slice of royal bread piled high with marmelade!

George Knox ● 5048d

Hanger HIll Gardens and the conservation area is knee deep in leaves.  They've been like that for over 2 weeks even though the collections have been weekly.  A fellow parent at my daughter's school slipped today whilst walking with me.  Only a matter of time.  The Council are so lucky it wasn't me (ok, I'm lucky it wasn't me too!)Have reported it to Robin Williamson.  I am convinced Enterprise either aren't up to the job or don't have the resources to do the job.  Either way we have a turkey on our hands.

Angela White ● 5045d

Grafton Rd green boxes just thrown all over the pavement.  It was like an obstacle course, just to get round them. have you watched the A/V of JB?

Nicola Howard ● 5045d

I am convinced Enterprise are understaffed. I read some time ago that Enterprise moved there staff from one location tto another according to where the problems are. Put more pressure on them and perhaps they will hand the contract back.

Bob Crossley ● 5045d

When the streets finally get cleaned.....why are the bags sitting there for days?  They attract fly-tipping!  Doh!  Lynton Avenue is full of bags this morning....they were left there yesterday.  Our road has bags left in it.  This is simply not good enough.  We should be seeking a refund.  It you went into a shop and had this shoddy, not-fit-for-purpose service,  you'd ask for a refund.I want to see the schedule for the Enterprise collections/litterpick and bag collections.  Do I have a right to this?  Does it come under the freedom of information?

Angela White ● 5045d

Again yesterday the litterpickers were around yesterday (or at least the cart was - no sign of the operative) after the first recycling and before the second recycling or garbage collection.Julian Bell told us this was down to the rotas giving the same start times for sweepers and rubbish men and that these were going to be staggered now changes had been negotiated with unions etc. So we live in hope.

Sara Nathan ● 5045d

Our street is littered with bags that were filled last week!No sign of them being either collected, or added to by a sweeping operation this week, even though our collection day was last Tuesday... As for the garden waste collection (for which we pay) - don't get me started!

Lorna Dodd ● 5045d

Thanks Sara for the info - I missed this at the meeting due to arriving late and other commitments.  So, Julian Bell is saying that Enterprise weren't getting it right?!  This is not what the Council Officer was saying.  He was saying it was just me complaining.  How about that!  Slapped wrists all round.  We aren't living in hope Sara, we are living in rubbish.

Angela White ● 5045d

So the big idea was for the streets to be swept after the collections instead of the day after. So who in  their right minds would think that starting the street sweepers at the same time as the collections would achieve that.

Bob Crossley ● 5045d

Lorna - have you emailed the council and in particular Robin Williamson?  He needs a prompt on this.

Angela White ● 5045d

I know Bob, it's elementary, isn't it.  I would sack them if I had my way.I've been told by Robin Williamson that they don't have the actual coverage schedule for Enterprise, only the schedule for which roads get swept when.  I am not entirely convinced on that.  If I were a Council Officer and I had to put up with so many complaints, I'd want to see that schedule.

Angela White ● 5045d

I think he is possibly right. The way the collections never happen at the same time (even the vehicles approach from different directions on different weeks) smacks of a try it and see if it works schedule.

Bob Crossley ● 5045d

Fossilised leaves Creswick Road!

Bob Crossley ● 5045d

As a Streetwatcher, I reported the lack of proper street cleaning in my street and the neighbouring ones. I asked for this to be referred to Robin Williamson, and have had it registered as a complaint - with a reference number.As Bob says, the rubbish/recycling collections are never at the same time each week. For many weeks, plastic was collected early and the rest of the recycling collected at around 2pm, this week they were collecting the plastic at 3pm, and the rest had been collected earlier. I do not know when or if we had any street cleaners, but I do know that Cumberland Road had a lot of spilt plastics littering it. Why can the recycling team not pick up the bits they drop?I have complained about the rubbish in the little gardens in Horn lane near The Mermaid carwash - they are apparently 'parks department', but they still have not been cleared of the cans/bottles etc a week on - so another request via Streetwatchers...And as for the number of cigarette ends that the street cleaner in Horn Lane has ignored this morning....Once upon a time the street cleaners used a nice, big broom to get all the litter, now they use a litter-picker and very occasionally their very ineffectual broom so all the cigarette ends get left. I walked past where he had just cleaned, and there was still litter there, too small for his litter-picker to grab I expect.Let's hope someone, somewhere sees sense and we do not have to put up with this shoddy service for another 14 and a half years! Does anyone know if other areas of the Borough are suffering in the same way?

Amanda Knights ● 5045d

It's about time that the council and Enterprise cut out the nonsense and got back to basics.As a point of interest, I used the Ealing customer service to complain, with the message, this site is now closed, but, I got a call from Enterprise (someone called Tracy) Saying that Enterprise managers will look at the roads/area I complained about.  Que sera sera.At least the complaint has been logged.

Nicola Howard ● 5045d

Angela, I am trying to report the abandoned bags: the website form keeps saying 'you must submit information' and I am sitting there looking at the information I have typed into the box! Before my blood pressure gets any higher, I have now emailed the webmaster...As for the garden waste: emails are no longer sufficient. When I've calmed down and had a cup of tea I shall compose a red-hot old-fashioned snail-mail letter of complaint to them...It's as though they enjoy making it all as difficult as possible. :-(

Lorna Dodd ● 5044d

It's an ongoing shambles, as I said directly to Julian Bell last Wednesday night, his Council is DYSFUNCTIONAL - in most Departments.

Rosco White ● 5044d

Today, after the waste collection, our street was swept for the first time in 4 weeks. The leaves and litter have gone. What a transformation.If the Council think that waiting for all the leaves to fall before sweeping them up is an acceptable policy going forward to next year, then I'm sure they'll agree that it would be acceptable to wait and see how they perform against all their targets over the year before I decide how much Council Tax I'm going to pay them...

Peter Millman ● 5040d

Wonder if we will get the street swept AFTER the rubbish/recycling collection tomorrow.Anyone offering odds?

Sara Nathan ● 5039d

Street being picked now, but the recycling hasn't been collected yet. This after several weeks of them getting right here.  Expletive deleted !!!!!

Bob Crossley ● 5039d

Big sweeping-up  happening this morning around 9.10. Plastics still to be collected; black bags taken around 11. Have just spent - I estimate - 15 minutes on phone to Ealing Council asking for Goldsmith Ave to be swept AFTER the rubbish/recycling is collected. Their computer seems to be working very slowly. Pointed out that since the crews now work irregular hours, the best day for our regular sweep would be Friday. Jackie @ Customer Services told me that on the system it says our road is supposed to be swept on Weds and Fri. I have never seen sweepers on those days - only on Thursdays. However, I have to confess that I don't spend my whole life watching out for street sweepers.I logged my complaint and was told the reference no. is 924285. Now perhaps I can do something useful with my day instead of trying to get Ealing Council to sweep our road on the right day.

Clare Gittins ● 5039d

Well, nearly dumb-struck but able to post and say I cannot believe I am reading the latest fiasco with Enterprise and Ealing Council.  I know Robin Williamson reads this forum and I had a chat to him and Dave, the very nice chap working between them.  They promised things will improve and they will get there.  I just can't believe the litterpick ears are arriving before the collections still!  This is elementary!  I would expect a quicker improvement. We're not talking about the odd bag being missed but an operational cock-up that has to be changed before any improvement can be expected!Robin?

Angela White ● 5039d

We have just had a second litter pick after the recycling has been collected this time.

Bob Crossley ● 5039d

If the managemenet of Enterprise or any Council Officer is reading these emails - can I suggest that you get the refuse collectors to sweep up their own mess - that will ensure that there isn't any mess to clean up - THUS SAVING MONEY ON EMPLOYING STREET SWEEPERS TO CLEAN UP AFTER THEM.  Apologies for capitals, but why aren't women running this contract!

Dee Cook ● 5039d

If 52% of residents are female then how many male street cleaners would be out of work? ;-)

George Knox ● 5038d

Good point, Dee.  I have never seen a woman involved in this, not on the streets and not in the administration.I would be very, very, very good at the administration and management of the cleaning, I just know I would.  I am excellent at telling my husband "you've missed a bit" and "no, do it again".;-)

Angela White ● 5038d

Nothing like a good bit of hen pecking, to keep these men in order.  Pity it doesn't work on Enterprise and the council.

Nicola Howard ● 5038d

Michael Hynes, founding MD of Enterprise saidhttp://www.enterprise.plc.uk/_common/download/brochures/ThePartyConferenceMagazineFinal_Sept2011.pdf"We are not a traditional contractor. We believe in payment by results and willingly place our reward at risk against the quality of our service performance."REALLY?on 16 Novemeber Colm Costello reports on his blog about a question to Overview and Scrutiny Committee"Has the Council imposed any penalties on the contractor for not meeting the specifications in the contract and was told they had, but wasn't told how much."Ealing Council Latest propaganda, whoops I meant News reports"Martin Joyce, Managing Director for Enterprise said:“We are delighted that we'll be working in partnership with Ealing Council. We're very confident that we can help deliver better environmental services at the same time as demonstrating value for money to Ealing's residents."http://www.ealing.gov.uk/news/article/266/environmental_services_contract_signedDon't think he still is MD of this division. The following Report refers to a massive clearout of senior staff.Enterprise's Annual Report and Accounts 2011 page 26 says:-"Environmental services contract with Ealing Borough Council, worth £80m over five years. The contract will be mobilised in two phases: grounds in January 2012 and the remaining services in April 2012."http://www.enterprise.plc.uk/_common/download/brochures/Final_SinglePage.pdfERR, FIVE YEARS? IS THAT CORRECT?If you read all the whole of the above Ealing Council link you will see the contract is for 15 years with a seven year break. You could email the Cabinet member bassam.mahfouz@ealing.gov.ukand ask about the discrepancy and get him to confirm that he really tied us in for 15 years, or you could emailstuart.chaston@enterprise.plc.ukwho now appears to be the MD for Government Services and tell him what you think about your local services, and at the same time ask him to get advice from his auditors (Deloittes) as to whether investors in Enterprise PLC would be interested in knowing that there is a 15 year rather than just a 5 year commitment. I found a reference about a possible change of ownership of Enterprise, but I really cannot verify that. However the Accounts do need to be accurate - DON'T THEY?

George Knox ● 5038d

Very interesting background, George. Thank you. Any idea if an FOI request to the Council to publish the actual contract with Enterprise would succeed? Or could they weasel out of it on commercially confidential grounds?Based on the below extract from your link to the Council's own website, Bassam Mahfouz should lose his job at the very least. Naive muppet. "Other parts of the contract will come into force next April [2012] and will include improvements in the quality of street cleaning, with more sweeping taking place.Streets will also be cleaned the same day as refuse and recycling collection, but after the collection has taken place so any spilt waste will be dealt with immediately – currently they are cleaned the day after collection. Waste and recycling will continue to be collected weekly from households and bins in parks will be emptied more frequently. Garden waste will be collected every two weeks from households that wish to subscribe.Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for Transport and Environment, said: “This is one of Ealing’s most important contracts so we wanted to ask companies to provide more for less, given the current climate. What we have will ensure delivering the absolute best for our residents, while also getting the best value possible. With this new contract we will make significant savings and improve the services delivered to the borough. It is anticipated the new contract will save the council and the taxpayer at least £3million annually. I look forward to working with Enterprise in our campaign to become one of the greenest and cleanest boroughs in London.”

Peter Millman ● 5037d

Thanks.I cannot think for a moment that any government agency would publish the whole of a contract. That would be too much of an intrusion into commercial competition. But if you pushed hard enough it might/should be possible to get some of the key conditions which you might expect in any similar contract.Who should lose their job is moot and has been extensively discussed on these websites. Bassam is not a cleaning manager. He has or does work for a Housing Assoc. I do suspect that the process or quite some part of preparing for a new contract is left to the so called experts in the cleaning department and then the key factors are put to Bassam to sign off. He might have asked for some changes, but it would have been down to the Officers to ensure that such changes were in the contract and importantly it would have been up to them to ensure that such conditions would work. A leader has to trust his staff and if they have been in post for a long time (which apparently they had) then to whatever degree you have to trust your very highly paid staff. But the position of a Cabinet member is that the buck stops at his/her door.History shows that that there are always a few very high up people who are not suitable for the job even though they have been in post for ever and ever. If you believe Government employers, their high ups are ever so difficult to get rid of – far worse than if working at the top of major commercial organisations. Conditions have changed so radically in the employment market that entitlement to the wondrous terms government employees enjoy must be eliminated. They don’t get it do they?Naturally I cannot prove it, but I would put more blame at the door of the experts and that is where brown envelopes should be issued. This problem is not going to go away until drastic action is taken.In the meantime keep lodging formal complaints and copy in both Bassam and the Enterprise MD (see previous post).

George Knox ● 5037d

George and Peter - very interesting, thank you and noted.

Angela White ● 5037d

Most Council's publish their refuse and street cleansing contracts on their web site.  The financial information is obviously not published.  Have you tried a search ...... ?

Dee Cook ● 5035d

I complained about the street cleaning and got the following reply from Ana Mirkovic, Contract Monitoring Officer….I have forwarded your complaint to our contractor Enterprise; they have informed me that they have had their street cleansing team and the supervisor look into this complaint and they have confirmed that the street cleansing team are due in your area of a Wednesday, as this is the same day as the collection truck is due. The street cleansing team will always follow on after the recycling crew have been and they will clear all mess which has been left in the road. The recycling crew are responsible for any mess caused directly by them, and any mess caused by cars (sic.) or animals will be cleared by the street cleansing team who follow the bin round.So, the recycling team are supposed to clean up the bits they spill – never happens around here! And as for the street cleaners always following on AFTER the recycling crew have been, we all know that doesn't always happen! I wonder if anyone has seen the recycling team pick up paper/plastic the spill?

Amanda Knights ● 5028d

Two weeks running now we have had a picker/sweeper come round in the morning and a picker after the recycling collection as well. Could this second one be recycling team clearing their mess?

Bob Crossley ● 5028d

Thanks Amanda for the information (or should I say misinformation!)  That's all very well on paper, isn't it, but in reality it is a sham.  Not a very respectful or empathetic response, is it.  Shows a lack of reality check.  I remember Jason Stacey initiating his reality checks around the borough, turning up with little notice to check on streets and it worked.  Now, I'm sitting here trying to remember the name of the Leader of the Council today and I even met him recently.  Gone, completely gone and I have an excellent memory so I can only suggest it's because he's made little impact so far.

Angela White ● 5028d

Remembered!!  Julien Bell.....should have rang a bell I suppose!

Angela White ● 5028d

Angela, I agree - Jason Stacey was a very good leader of the Council. He used to come to the Streetwatcher conferences - looking smart in suit and tie and willing to talk. At this years conference we got Bassam Mahfouz in his jeans - but no Julian Bell. Perhaps Streetwatchers aren't important to him - they probably cause him more 'headaches' with their complaints!

Amanda Knights ● 5028d

On a more positive note, I was very pleased last week to see that ALL our rubbish (black bags, plastics, card/bottles, and food waste) was collected before 9am!  In recent weeks, the process had been taking all day.  Hopefully this is how they mean to carry on.  However, I'll need to start getting up very early on Wed mornings now.

Kim Bobsin ● 5028d

Your collection team has obviously done a swap with ours! Our black bags used to go before 8am - last week it was teatime...

Lorna Dodd ● 5027d

Maybe this is why Changes to collectionsFrom Monday 3 December, there will be some minor changes to refuse collections in the borough. Although collection days will not change, in some areas, collections may take place either earlier or later than usual. Please ensure all waste and recycling is presented by 7am at the property boundary on your day of collection.

Bob Crossley ● 5027d

7am!  Argh -- too early!

Kim Bobsin ● 5027d

It is very early, although this is the time stated by the Council for many years as being the time we should out our refuse.  Unfortunately, what will happen now, if the collections do actually happen at 7am, is people will:a)  leave bags out over nightor b) leave bags out too lateResult: rat attacks on bagsGreat.

Angela White ● 5027d

No rubbish on the pavement please, else you risk a fine.  The refuse collectors are contracted to collect from your frontage - and that is where your refuse should be stored.Should rats attach the bags, it follows that the mess will then be on your own property and not on the pavement.So the moral to this tale is NOT TO PUT FOOD WASTE INTO BLACK BAGS - use the food waste bins!

Dee Cook ● 5026d

We have a very early riser in our house, so an early collection was fine, as he put the black bags out at 06.30 as he left for work. (We don't put food in the bags, but the foxes seem rather attracted to cat litter...) But now everything hangs around until teatime - it was nearly dark before they collected today. And of course, foxes are quite bold enough to attack rubbish during daylight hours...

Lorna Dodd ● 5026d

I have just been to Ealing, and have seen a street cleaner using a litter picker to collect leaves and put them into a small plastic bin he was carrying!!! Strange or what?Back home in Acton the saga continues....having got the letter telling me the street would always be cleaned after the recycling, guess what? It was cleaned BEFORE the recycling! Further to Dee's comment about not putting food waste in the black bags - I watched a pigeon attacking a bin bag which had a hole in it, and it was pecking at food waste.

Amanda Knights ● 5026d

Have you emailed Robin Williamson?  Would be worth it.  This cannot go on.

Angela White ● 5026d

You have to ask the question, why are the managers of both the Council and Enterprise NOT tackling this obvious simple problem?Are the refuse collectors/street sweepers running the contract, and not those actually paying for it?

Dee Cook ● 5025d

No plastics collection in Highlands Avenue/Summerlands Avenue etc. What is going on here?

Amanda Knights ● 5025d

As I said directly to Julian Bell at the CCA, in no uncertain terms, his Council is completely DYSFUNCTIONAL, in many Departments.The place is falling apart.He doesn't appear overly bothered.IMHO.

Rosco White ● 5025d

I introduced myself and said I was still waiting to hear from him in replying to an email I sent directly to him (about the Horn Lane pollution) and he wrote my name down, saying he would get back to me.Zilch so far.

Angela White ● 5025d

You don't REALLY expect to hear back do you Angela?A miracle if you do.Yesterday I chased a certain Council employee yet again for the FIFTH time on an unanswered noise matter. These employees wouldn't ignore the Council Taxpayers like this unless their management doesn't care either.The malaise and the rot is deep and wide.

Rosco White ● 5025d

Is it possible to impeach this administration, or do we have to wait another 17 months to get rid of them?

Nicola Howard ● 5025d

17 months I'm afraid.VERY afraid!And there's no appropriate channels available to even pass a Council Taxpayers vote of "No Confidence".

Rosco White ● 5025d

From 2006In a surprise move Cllr. Julian Bell has been deselected for the Acton Central ward. A recent meeting of the local party branch selected sitting councillors John Delaney and Laurence Evans but opted Theresa Byrne for the third ward nomination. She is the chair of the Ealing North constituency Labour party.somewhere I read it was because of his lack of interest!

Bob Crossley ● 5025d

shurely shome mishtake .......................

Rosco White ● 5025d

Dig the Scottish vocabulary.He was deselected, moved to Greenford, where his track record was unknown.  With luck there will be no more JB., after the next council elections, polluting our lives. What we need is a council that is responsive, caring, and, listens to the electorate.  We do NOT want councillors that tell lies or, are compulsive liars and, we do not want councillors who shirk their responsibilities, when issues get to hot.

Nicola Howard ● 5025d

Well put Nicola..........but someone voted for him - you will have to convince them not to do so in the future.

Dee Cook ● 5025d

I remember watching a film about a hole in the street set in an eastern European country many years ago - the number of groups who came to inspect it and do something about it was strangely fascinating  Speeded up with dates would be interesting!!

Philippa Bond ● 5025d

Is this the new collection method or, is it down to cut backs?Obviously the new way to collect plastics.

Nicola Howard ● 5025d

I should have said that this was filmed by having a camera trained continuously on this hole in the road, we saw the daily activity or not on the street for week after week until the hole was filled  Strangely fascinating

Philippa Bond ● 5025d

Figures released on Thursday night (question 32) show that 20% of Ealing’s streets were unacceptably dirty in November.  Eight months into the new Enterprise contract Ealing council has still not managed to give residents the service that they pay for.  This new contract is actually meant to be better than the old one.  The previous contract with May Gurney demanded that at least 90% of Ealing’s streets were graded A in the nationally agreed measurement scheme for these things.  As you can see last year May Gurney typically exceeded this.  The new contract says at least 95% of Ealing’s streets should be cleaned to grade A standard.  Again the figures show the nearest that Enterprise has got to this was August and September when 12.9% of streets were graded A.  In October and November these numbers were 16.2% and 19.5% respectively.  Of course it is harder to keep the streets clean in the autumn but Enterprise has been 2.5 times worse than May Gurney was the year before.  May Gurney consistently met its 90% target last year.  Enterprise hasn’t got anywhere near its contracted target.  Back in November Enterprise came to the Overview and Scrutiny meeting for a grilling.  You wouldn’t know it from the minutes but three different Tory councillors asked essentially the same question.  When will Enterprise meet its 95% grade A target?  Three times the question was ignored by council leader Cllr Julian Bell and the man in charge of this nonsense Cllr Bassam Mahfouz.  Neither the Labour administration nor Enterprise has made any undertaking as to when Ealing residents will get the service they pay for. 

Phil Taylor ● 5014d

Phil Is this essentially a shortage of staff. Did they get the contract by undercutting May Gurney by thinking they could get by with less operatives.?

Bob Crossley ● 5014d

Bob,I don't think that it is that simple.  A saving has been taken out but there probably always was a saving to be made.  The new contract includes ground maintenance for both parks and the council housing estate so there were some economies of scale to be achieved.  The old ECT contract was made in relatively good times and you always have to question how keen the price was when the chief exec of ECT was a labour councillor and protfolio holder.  He didn't get directly involved in the decision making but you do have to wonder.  The Conservative administration bolted on some additions to the contract as it was not sensible to just end it.  There was big scope to get a better price and not see the service diminished.  Indeed nowhere in the procurement process was there any admission by either the council or the contractor that there would be a worse service as a result.  In my view the driver for the poor performance was the "big bang" approach to the new contract. On day one everything changed.  New vehicles, new rounds and new processes.  The promise to street clean the same day as collections always looked over-ambitious and has caused them to change the Ts and Cs of the street cleaners so they start later.  This only happened months in.  On top of that they failed to get new and rather revolutionary recycling collection vehicles delivered until the end of July.  As a result the workforce has had to change rounds again and again.  The big worry for the Tory group is that Enterprise are putting enough manpower in (certainly more than they envisaged) and, unfortunately, they are still not succeeding and they will end up with an unsustainable business which gives Ealing residents problems for years to come.

Phil Taylor ● 5014d

Dysfunctional council and contract.  Julian Bell is a master at evading the important questions.  Never an answer or he will just sidestep the issue.Last Thursday, sweepers on Grafton Rd before collection, road left dirty thereafter, (tins, orange peel, bottles, broken glass and Chinese food.)  Is there any logic for this problem to persist?  As a point, the parks look clean (ish), pity it is not carried over to out streets.How much would it cost to break the Enterprise contract, (if possible) and would it be worth it to the residents/council tax payers?

Nicola Howard ● 5014d

Ask your last sentence as a Freedom of Information question.

Dee Cook ● 5011d

Too much for him?

Bob Crossley ● 5009d

Enterprise did our collection today (Saturday), here are the results as far as I am concerned:1. They forgot to empty my dustbin so I have 1 black bag of rubbish not collected.2. My green recycling box was missing, they only returned 1 green box. I had to go search for it and discovered it in my neighbour's garden.3.  I then realised that my white plastic sack was also missing! So another search found it in a neighbour's front garden!4.  A telephone to Ealing Council was answered with a recorded message so obviously I cannot contact anyone until next week. What sort of service is it that Enterprise are providing? Can't they even read the street number on the boxes and ensure that they are returned to the proper address? We shouldn't have to go out in the rain searching for them!

Jean F Fernandez ● 5009d

Not fit for purpose, this contractor at all.  It's now gone 2pm and they are supposed to take away the mounds of Christmas refuse and recycling in our street but I'm almost certain that won't happen.  More chance of seeing Santa.  Utterly disgraceful.  The road looks like a bomb has hit it.  My husband hasn't even put our waste or recycling out, much to my berating of course but he was absolutely right.....there's no chance of it being taken and he said he didn't want to have to take it back in, or worse, clean up after the foxes had been at it.  I will apologise to him immediately.

Angela White ● 5009d

Food bin just thrown on the pavement, green box and white sack thrown on the plants and, black bags not yet collected.

Nicola Howard ● 5009d

15:15 and no collection.

Nicola Howard ● 5008d

Our first recycling was at 0730.Second mid afternoon.And I'm not sure if the rubbish was collected or not - didn't happen in the light/when I was in so the chaps didn't get their Xmas box. Pity.

Sara Nathan ● 5008d

I give our milkman a Christmas box but really, the bin men (around here?)  These bin men?  Having said that, I'm very happy to give the guys a tip for Christmas, should they wish to knock on my door.  It would go something along the line of "time to get your act together before Acton starts revolting".

Angela White ● 5008d

Don't know about Acton revolting but, the streets certainly are.  It's about time these bin men learnt to multi-task, then they may have some use, though not sure what.!Looks like the next Acton Central Ward Forum on 6 Feb 2013, is going to be lively.  I wonder what excuses our pathetic councillors will come up with.  (Definitely something else to go on YouTube/W3 forum.)  Feel free to e-mail me with your pictures of our filthy streets but, please reduce them to 6 inches @ 200 dpi along with the street name.  Of course, we will have to bring up the pollution issue as well. (Pics of red/grey brick dust on cars/windows etc welcome.) Happy New Year folks.

Nicola Howard ● 5008d

Its the management we should be complaining about rather than the bin men, who if not properly trained and supervised are hardly to blame.The last lot had a supervisor on each gang who took pictures and tidied up. That no longer happens.

Bob Crossley ● 5008d

For what its worth the recycling crews especially seem to be very picky about what they will take and how it is "packaged" for collection - tying non laceup shoes together?!? Their version and the council's (both on the website and via the caller centre)  seem to differ somewhat.This can lead to some rather forthrighr discussions at street level!

Roger Foreman ● 5008d

Unfortunately all the stuff they reject gets put into black bags.  Thus costing the Council and the Council Taxpayers huge landfill tax costs.  So in reality it would pay the Council to have a recycling officer go round with all the recycling crews to ensure that all that CAN be recycled IS recycled.  Other Council's are doing this.

Dee Cook ● 5007d

Far too efficient, capable, competent and on the ball for this Administration.

Rosco White ● 5007d

Today Enterprise did their rounds in these streets, I have to say that Allison Road is absolutely filthy! Paper and rubbish scattered over the pavement.I doubt they had the men out to sweep the streets today.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5001d

THREE litter pickers here today came between the recycling and black bag collections!

Bob Crossley ● 5001d

That may be, Bob, that your street is on the "red alert" list (or some such name) given that you are active in reporting non or bad collections and litter picking!  :-)

Angela White ● 5001d

Yes but the three litter pickers came together and before the black bags were collected. Red alert not much help

Bob Crossley ● 5001d

Oh!  So much for being a vigilant reporter!

Angela White ● 5001d

Our block of 48 flats, which have recycling bins for paper, tins and bottles, has not had a recycling collection for three weeks.  Obviously Christmas/New Year intervened, but this week still no collection.  I phoned Ealing on Tuesday who promised that it would be collected Wednesday.  Nothing happened.  Phoned again this morning and was told it would be collected 'ASAP' and that it was the same throughout the borough.  The person I spoked to sounded as fed up with the whole thing as I am.  meanwhile, the bins are full to overflowing, and the recycling team will probably say that they are too full and heavy to be moved.  Watch this space!!

Nina Battleday ● 4997d

I still cannot work out why this weeks collection days are not back to normal. In previous years, with the other contractors, the only disruptions were in the Christmas/New Year weeks themselves, not the following week.We spent Christmas 'up North' in Nottinghamshire, and in some areas the bins were emptied on a Sunday!

Amanda Knights ● 4997d

Yesterday they were litter picking in Brougham Road, yet our collection day is today, Thursday!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4997d

Litter picking here today. Collection this week is tomorrow. Wonder if they will come back again tomorrow?

Bob Crossley ● 4997d

Enterprise missed our collections today.  They are supposed to be back to normal!!!Rubbish.

Angela White ● 4996d

No they are not back to normal until next week. If your normal collection is a Thursday, this week it is Friday

Bob Crossley ● 4996d

So annoying - all pick ups due today - it now being weeks after Xmas, you might think they would be back to normal - not a bit of it.No recycling, no rubbish pick up in Goldsmith Avenue

Sara Nathan ● 4996d

They are being picked up tomorrow. Or at least they are supposed to be. This information was posted through our letter box shortly before Christmas. It was also in Around Ealing or whatever it's called and on the Ealing Council website, which says on the front page that the schedules will go back to normal after January 14th.

Clare Gittins ● 4996d

Sorry - last message posted is to Sara N's post about Goldsmith Ave refuse/recycling collections

Clare Gittins ● 4996d

Clare - Yes, I fully understand about the revised schedules - but when they haven't picked up the recycling for three weeks, and the promise to collect it is ignored it's a bit much!  Think I'll forget about recycling and bung it all in the normal waste bin - that at least seems to be collected on a regular basis.

Nina Battleday ● 4996d

Really Bob?  Why?  New Year was last week.

Angela White ● 4996d

Thanks Clare.  No, Enterprise are terrible and I didn't receive this information via my postbox but did look up online when the dates were.  Didn't see that it spanned 3 weeks due to not expecting it to span 3 weeks.  Ridiculous.  No excuses.

Angela White ● 4996d

"the schedules will go back to normal after January 14th."That'll be the normal hopeless, haphazard, dysfunctional, incompetent schedule, I presume.Less than a year ago, the Council were forever trumpeting how Ealing was one of the cleanest boroughs in London. 9 months in to the Enterprise contract and it's still one of the filthiest. And there's a deafening silence from Messrs Bell and Mahfouz on the subject.Oh! And here come the Council Tax bills...

Peter Millman ● 4996d

Nearly everyone in our street has put their recycling and refuse out.  It's not good enough.  Enterprise are failing to deliver.I wonder how much of my money goes towards collections and cleaning of our streets?  If Enterprise was a shop, I'd be there asking for a refund on undelivered goods.  Why can't we have a refund?  I am paying for goods I'm not receiving or are below standard.  I think that warrants a refund, don't you?

Angela White ● 4996d

Well said, Peter.

Angela White ● 4996d

What a bunch of moaning minies.  Grafton Rd was swept today, the first time since before Christmas, at least the spilt food waste has gone, at last, that is until tomorrow, so it will be another three weeks before it's done again.  Why do I have to live in such filth?  It's about time Bell and co started practising what they preach, which IMO is very little, if anything.  It's time they were lobotomised, along with Enterprise.Don't forget the next Acton Central Ward Forum is 6 Feb.  Lets crucify our useless councillors, who are equally dysfunctional.

Nicola Howard ● 4996d

Perhaps the job is too much for Enterprise?All we want is a regular rubbish collection and CLEAN streets! Is that too much to ask?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4996d

Do you all really think that the current Administration of Ealing Borough Council actually knows what it is doing?ANY half competent management would have this pretty well sorted, if not completely sorted, by now.WHO actually voted these clowns in is what I want to know?They have NO idea.

Rosco White ● 4996d

I'm afraid some of it is down to seeing what you expect to see. I looked at the schedule and noted the two days later collection over holidays. It just didn't even occur to me to look further. We have never had THREE WEEKS disruption before and I can't see what, apart from cost-cutting the contract or incompetent contractors, could possibly make it necessary this year.

Sara Nathan ● 4996d

Agree, Sara.

Angela White ● 4996d

Rosco, I think a lot of votes in any election come from those who are dissatisfied with the current national Government and think they'll vote for the "other party" no matter who that might be.  I think Local Government are sometimes victims of national discord and people don't, in general, think too deeply about local matters, hence voting out a perfectly good Local Government in this case.

Angela White ● 4996d

It's such a shame local government is on a party political basis married to national - a residents' party as they have in other places such as Epsom might well be better - though to be fair the decisions would remain tricky.But it must be possible to negotiate a reasonable contract with a major supplier and then see they stick to it. That's competence not party political.

Sara Nathan ● 4996d

Sara,The fact is that only the party political system is capable of delivering the kind of group discipline you need to drive through a coherent programe.  The alternative is the rule of council officers.  Residents may not like their choices but at least they have one.  Often politicians of all parties are accused of risk aversion and small c conservatism.  This is a case where the opposite is true.  Both officers and the contractor glibly asserted that a massive, big bang service change could be delivered without significant disruption.  After 4 years of learning about and vastly improving the cleaning contract I can tell you that the Conservative group on the council would have been a lot more conservative if we had been in power.  The Labour leadership allowed themselves to be talked into this huge change and must carry the can for the initial failure and its now nine month extent.  Over the first nine months of this contract 25% of the whole Borough's streets have been unacceptably dirty.

Phil Taylor ● 4996d

Perhaps the Council employees are too friendly with the Contractor and its employees?

Angela White ● 4996d

Because of the adjusted collection days this week, Acton is looking miserable this morning, with bags torn open from vermin.  It has made far more work.  What was the logic behind this week's altered collections?

Angela White ● 4996d

Well the litter pickets did come back again Friday

Bob Crossley ● 4996d

Not sure there is any evidence of that, Angela, but there are councils who are well organised though not politically affiliated. Though I can see that Phil might not agree with that.

Sara Nathan ● 4996d

Sara,I will not typicaly agree with an assertion that is not backed up with facts.  Which councils are effective and have significant residents' association type representation?  Please name names.

Phil Taylor ● 4996d

I think you'll find I started my posting with the words "I think" and therein continued to use the words "I think".  These aren't facts, just my thought.  There may not be any evidence to back those thoughts (I haven't looked or done research) but they are still my thoughts.  I never said they were facts.

Angela White ● 4996d

Oh, hang on a minute.....which post are you referring to regarding "facts" and "evidence"?  Then I will clarify.

Angela White ● 4996d

The one I was specifically thinking about was Epsom and Ewell - which has 26 residents association councillors and only about a dozen of the three national parties combined.As a council it works fine - according to my brother who lives there - and certainly no worse than ours.Brighton & Hove City have a Green majorityI think there is also one in the area where they elected an independent MP due to hospital closures but haven't time to do the research now.Plus the City of london (rather odd I agree) and others.

Sara Nathan ● 4995d

Sara,Epsom & Ewell is an incredibly special case.  It has been run by the Residents' Association party, which is a properly formed policitcal party that organises itself on a ward basis, since 1937 when the current borough was formed.  The numbers show that it has been losing its previously iron grip in recent years.  Until 1983 the residents had 37/40 seats.  Now down to 26/40.  See here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsom_and_EwellThe Greens are not some lovely residents' organisation.  They are a  left-wing party and they are very political.  I thought we were talking about local government.  The MP you are talking about Richard Taylor who held the Wyre Forest seat for two terms (2001 and 2005) and campaigned to re-open the closed Kidderminster A&E.  He failed to persuade the Labour government to reverse the decision and was beaten by Tory Mark Garnier in 2010.  As you say the City is odd.  Not sure you have made your case.

Phil Taylor ● 4995d

Everything else went but the white bags languish uncollected.I've reported to streetwatchers. Is it true elsewhere in Acton today?

Sara Nathan ● 4926d

Hit and miss in many places, sorry to say.  Princes Avenue, West Acton is strewn with black bags and hasn't been litter-picked.  Friary Road is a mess.Personally, I think most streets in Acton look half cleaned most of the time, with litter here and there, incomplete jobs done and the odd bag left uncollected.  Waste of time and money - I do wish they would do a good job.

Angela White ● 4926d

I do wish they would do a good job.  Er yeh  but, when can we expect a proper service?Plastics not collected on Grafton.

Nikki Howard ● 4926d

Goodness me!Amazing what posting here can achieve.Plastics collected between 1900 and 1930.How can they see to do the job properly in pitch darkness?Oh wait - properly isn't in the contract.

Sara Nathan ● 4926d

7:30pm plastics collected.  Who's paying for the overtime?

Nikki Howard ● 4926d

And whoever came to pick it up has done it very carelessly  which means that there are plastic sandwich containers and other sundry plastic items strewn all up and down the road and pavement. It is extremely annoying. Enterprise don't seem to have any consistency to the timetabling of their collections. One week the black bag disappears by midday, the next it's left lying around until 5pm. Some weeks the cardboard gets collected, sometimes not. Likewise for the plastics. If I was asked to review the service, I would say it was slapdash, unreliable and inadequate. We're not getting value for money and no one at Ealing Council seems to be bothered about it.

Clare Gittins ● 4926d

The Enterprise contract is still in a crisis, almost a year in and the figures are getting worse.  My walk to school is just depressing and the streets in my neighbourhood have got visibly dirtier in the last few weeks.  I pulled out the missed collection numbers up until January, see graph below.  Almost 6,000 collections were missed in January and the figures have got worse three months running.  On average, over ten months missed collections were 4.5 times worse than they were under the old contract.  In ten months last year 10,000 collections were missed.  In the same ten months under the Enterprise contract 44,000 collections were missed, that is 34,000 more missed collections in ten months with the new contract.  The council and Enterprise have screwed up massively.  And they continue to do so. 

Phil Taylor ● 4926d

The refuse collection yesterday was again extremely messy. I observed a collector drop some rubbish, stoop to pick up 2 pieces of refuse and ignore the rest....... Do these vehicles not have brooms and shovels to clean up the mess properly?What is the Council doing about this.  I would expect the Council Officer responsible to go round with he crews ensuring that Council Tax Payers are getting the service we are paying for.  And if not, sit down with his appropriate Enterprise manager in order to sort the problem out.  Do they not talk to one another?

Dee Cook ● 4926d

If that graph is accurate, that's appalling.

Angela White ● 4926d

Angela,The graph is produced from formal written answers to questions raised by me.  The numbers come from council officers. 

Phil Taylor ● 4926d

When will everyone appreciate that the current administration of this Council DOESN'T CARE!Until, oh, about 3-6 months before the next election.This would have been sorted long ago if they did.

Rosco White ● 4926d

I think they care....I just don't believe they've been prudent or are as capable as some Councils (i.e. Jason Stacey's Council for instance).

Angela White ● 4926d

Get the Tories back in and, sort out this abysmal service.  We deserve a decent caring council.

Nikki Howard ● 4926d

I don't think it's necessarily a party political matter. Unless Tories are better at managing contracts. It's a competence issue.Maybe we should have a residents' group.I just want our resources managed effectively and responsively. I don't really care about the political complexion of the people who do it.

Sara Nathan ● 4926d

Am I the only one with problems regarding the garden waste collection? What a waste of £40 . Very unreliable service.

Terrie Hodgson ● 4925d

Not the only one, my garden collection was missed last week and it took 1 e-mail for missed collection and five phonecalls over five days to get it collected, all I was told each day was that it 'should' be collected by the end of the day, for five days!! Apparently they get fined but that doesn't seem to concern them

Madeline Kerketta ● 4925d

For some reason the Labour Councillors, and in particular, the Leader of the Council do not wish to pursue this problem.  Perhaps they are being advised by Council Officers or their Legal Team incorrectly. Time for everyone to lobby Boris Johnson, who appears to be the only politician who gets things done.

Dee Cook ● 4925d

I've refused to pay this year's garden  waste collection fee until I've received three consecutive correct collections... At least today I had a supervisor call round and promise he would personally watch over the next collection... we'll see.

Lorna Dodd ● 4925d

At least today I had a supervisor call round and promise he would personally watch over the next collection.Who lives in La La Land.  Guaranteed to be a broken promise.

Nikki Howard ● 4925d

It's called damage limitation, Nikki.  I think the squeaky wheels are getting the personal treatment to keep them quiet.I agree with Dee.  It may not be a political issue but the current Council are ineffective, imho.

Angela White ● 4925d

I thought the collection didnt start till April so haven't put anything out.It's too b++++y cold to garden anyhow

Sara Nathan ● 4925d

Guardian Feb 22ndFerrovial Services yesterday announced the £385m takeover of Enterprise plc in a move which will see the support services business merged into Amey, the Spanish group’s own services firm.

Bob Crossley ● 4925d

Waste ManagementAmey, as part of AmeyCespa, provides over 40 years of international, unparalleled experience in waste management, with an emphasis on pioneering new technologies.We are able to assist local authorities and our business customers in meeting their cost, sustainability and environmental challenges by providing comprehensive and innovative waste management services. We focus on bespoke services and solutions designed specifically to meet local needs.The insights gained from our international experience – where we manage over seven million tonnes of waste each year across more than 90 sites – allow us to remain at the forefront of waste management thinking and development.AmeyCespa is a joint venture between Amey and one of Europe’s largest waste management companies, Cespa SA. Both companies are owned by Ferrovial, and the joint venture combines Amey’s expertise of the UK public services market with Cespa’s expertise in waste management and operations.*:-$ don't tell anyone, shh!

Nikki Howard ● 4925d

So Enterprise is being bought by a Spanish company.Will the service get better? It can't get any worse.

Bob Crossley ● 4925d

Not is they decide to go native and have a siesta as well.

Angela White ● 4925d

If this service will improve being owned by the Spanish, I'll eat my sombrero.

Sarah Harris ● 4923d

I'll eat my sombreroWould that be with or, without Paella?  Chances are, they would get bogged down in soggy rice!

Nikki Howard ● 4923d

I made a complaint about the garden waste recycling (or lack of it) on the 13th of March expecting a reply within 4 working days. Didn't get one so put in another on the 20th still no reply!! Where do I go from here? Shocking service. We have just signed up again for another year as I do recycle a lot of garden waste . Service not fit for purpose.

Terrie Hodgson ● 4922d

Do persevere - my current garden waste complaint has just been 'escalated' to level 2 (much good may it do me) and have refused to pay the new fee until they sort things out. I now have a named contact in the Street Services department and have had a vist from an Enterprise supervisor. Yesterday's collection was on time and quite satisfactory, but I'm holding out for 2 more correct collections until I cough up...

Lorna Dodd ● 4920d

I've logged yet another compliant with Enterprise less than a week after they sent someone to my house to investigate a complaint.Yet again they missed our street and when I logged the missed collection they sent a van out to collect *just my recycling* leaving the rest of the street uncollected. They also only collected half of my recycling- the green bin was done, the plastics bag was not.It is so, so, so pointless.

James Richmond ● 4919d

This month the council's officers released a set of cleaning statistics to me that cover the last year of the old May Gurney cleaning contract and the first year of the new Enterprise one.  The numbers are quite startling.  Under the old contract, on average, over the whole year 88% of streets were cleaned right first time up to the required Grade A standard.  12% were unacceptably dirty.  Under the Enterprise contract, on average, over the whole year only 70% of streets were cleaned right first time up to the required Grade A standard.  30% were unacceptably dirty.  If you think our streets are dirtier than they were then you are right.

Phil Taylor ● 4887d

I have finally got hold of the missed collections numbers from the council, see: http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/default.asp?section=info&link=http://nnet-server.com/server/common/earubbishcomplaints001.htmInstead of just apologising and spelling out what steps the administration is taking to fix things the Labour portfolio holder Bassam Mahfouz throws a magnificent hissy fit.  For the record I sent the complete data to the editor of Ealingtoday.co.uk and she made up her mind about the story that she wrote.  She didn't buy the council's line that the customers are mistaken when they take the trouble to pick up the phone to complain.  Cllr Mahfouz has clearly never been near manufacturing nor heard of Six Sigma or he wouldn't think that a defect rate of 0.3% was acceptable.  His 0.3% defect rate translates into 3,000 people a month calling the council to report a missed collection after a year of the new Enterprise contract.  Mahfouz says: "We have been totally open and honest" but I asked the council to tell me about missed collections on 3rd April and they responded on 1st May.  It isn't open and honest to keep people waiting 4 weeks to hear some very basic numbers.

Phil Taylor ● 4877d

I've never heard of six sigma either. What is it?And the information turnaround... 4 weeks seems a bit long but it was a lot of data presumably. What do the council KPIs say it should be?If it's .3% now - a year in - what was it before the Enterprise contract. I would expect a fair bit lower, but how much?

Sara Nathan ● 4877d

If the Council's monitoring systems are set up properly all this information should be available to Senior Managers at least on a 2 weekly basis for their management meetings.Are we saying that it took one month to 'doctor' the figures?

Dee Cook ● 4877d

Sara,When the collections system is not in crisis (as it was 3 times last year in April, August and December) the missed collections rate is 3 times what it was under the old contract.  Six Sigma is the quality control philosophy that leading manufacturers apply to their processes.  A 0.3% defect rate doesn't sound like much but it is a disaster when you are carrying out 3/4 collections at 95,000 households every week.  It translates into 3,000 people calling the council to complain about a missed collection.

Phil Taylor ● 4877d

Dee,Typically the data is available the next working day - the spreadsheet they gave me on 1st May included data to end of April.  I asked for data to end of March on 3rd April and got it 1st May along with the April 2013 data so clearly I could have had it earlier.  I am sure that no doctoring happened but the officers did spend a month trying to work out how best to present the information in a good light.  The raw figures are terrible but they do reflect actual customer calls so therefore faithfully reflect actual customer experience.

Phil Taylor ● 4877d

' It translates into 3,000 people calling the council to complain about a missed collection. '-- and how many people have missed collections but don't complain? I do 90% of the time, but occasionally am just too fed up and/or busy to bother. If contacting the council during the day is difficult (and the website isn't always working) it's sometimes easier just to sigh and push the stuff into a corner until next week... I would reckon on the real figures being much higher than their reluctantly provided statistics.

Lorna Dodd ● 4877d

Once more I've had to send an email to the Council as our street hasn't been litterpicked after the refuse and recycling collections today.  It happens about once every 4 weeks.  Not good enough.  Fail, fail, fail.

Angela White ● 4835d

Same here in West Acton Angela.I have never seen my road so dirty after a collection. There is rubbish everywhere. On the pavements and on the roads.......paper, food, baby nappies etc down the whole road and not a sweeper in sight today......

Ellie Rose ● 4835d

Haven't seen a sweeper for weeks.Also the storm drains have not been cleaned, or the covers unblocked of dirt etc., since this diabolical mob took over...that is council and Enterprise.

Niki Howard ● 4835d

My last four PAID FOR (!) garden collections have been missed and having to send an e-mail to get it collected, I figured I am being charged to contact the council!

Madeline Kerketta ● 4835d

My food waste didn't go until afternoon this week although all the rest was collected in the morning.  I was expecting the bin to be full when it came in at the end of the day and had resigned myself to putting in another layer of paper for another week - but it wasn't.  I hadn't complained except for shouting loudly at an Enterprise van going past.  Our collection here is usually absolutely fine.Every four weeks - is there a rota? I do remember one week months ago when the crew seemed to be having a race or something it was a plastics/foodwaste collection and the bins were just being thrown back.  Usually with us I think it's the other type of lorry.

Philippa Bond ● 4835d

the trucks do sometimes fill up and have to go and disgorge their contents. Then go back to complete their rounds, which is why the collections sometimes are later than usual

Bob Crossley ● 4835d

In the old days it seemed to be the glass they had problems with - you would hear them smashing it to make extra room.The Council have recently won a grant for more food waste bins so maybe they are getting a bigger uptake.  I think separating the food waste out is the most important of the lot - it makes such a lot of difference, saving you money because you can see what you are wasting and then alter slightly what you do.

Philippa Bond ● 4834d

The council is still missing 2,600 collections per month In an answer to a written question (number 38) asked by me at the last council meeting it transpires that the council is still missing over 2,600 collections a month.  How long will this nonsense go on for?  2,600 people are still having to phone up every month to tell the council something has gone wrong.  That is more than 100 every working day.

Phil Taylor ● 4830d

If you can work out which wards increase their recycling most or don't recycle much then you should be able to tell us which wards are reporting non-collection most often.Which other questions on this would it be useful to know the answer to?Which wards complain about non-collection?Which wards don't bother?Whose wards?  Does it depend on the Councillor's/s' stance on the collection/type of collection?Does it depend on the crews?Does it depend on the type of housing?Does it depend on the type of collection?Does it depend on the responsiveness of the Councillor/s?Does it depend on the responsiveness of the Council and/or Enterprise?

Philippa Bond ● 4830d

Philippa,I will ask some more questions.  Certainly which wards and which things are not being collected.  I will report back.

Phil Taylor ● 4830d

Thanks Phil.

Philippa Bond ● 4829d

The last two month’s street cleaning figures have been dire to say the least.  The proportion of streets cleaned right first time fell to 65% in May according to the answer to a written question (number 39) asked by me at the last council meeting. For the last year (2011/12) of the old May Gurney service the contractor very consistently managed to get 88% properly clean first time.  The Enterprise contract requires that a level of 95% is achieved.  Last year on average Enterprise was appalling, only managing to get 70% of streets right first time over the course of the year.  In April only 76% of streets were right first time.  In May this number fell to 65%.  So over 1/3rd of all the Borough’s streets were unacceptably dirty after the first clean in May.  The council inspected 28% of streets in April and 22% in May and sent the contractor back to clean them.  Of these reinspected streets 95% in April and 86% in May finally made the grade.  Astoundingly in May 14% of the streets inspected (only one in 5) were still unacceptably dirty after 2 cleans.  The original concept of the contract was that 95% of streets should be Grade A clean first time.  How far we are from that vision.  The only way the council will solve this is to increase the number of inspections it does.  Right now it is cheaper for the contractor to go back to a few streets and re-clean them than it is for them to get it right first time across the Borough.  Only when the level of inspections increases will the contractor be forced to get it right first time.  Cutting the inspections was a mistake.  Jason Stacey’s Conservatives in 2006 proved that the only way to clean up Ealing is to focus on it and