Ashley, Easton & Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Partnership ‘Cleaning up Ashley, Easton & Lawrence Hill’ Thursday 11th November.
1. Litter and Rubbish PROBLEMS/comments SOLUTIONS/feedback 1.Lack of cleaning cul-de-sacs (roads behind houses in 1. More appreciation of people who collect litter/ Bates Close, Hathway Walk, Robinson Drive and sweep streets, they respond well to positive Barker Walk) Goodpenny feedback. 2. Paid staff collecting rubbish could be more flexible/ pro-active 2.Stokes Croft and Moon Street very messy – we do 3. Re POINT 3: Pilot scheme should be city wide in not seem to have our usual SITA men with their 2012. brushes! 4. Publicise plastic recycling points. 5. Hotspots, already identified: maybe collect waste 3. Does the lack of plastic recycling (doorstep, black weekly instead of fortnightly box) undermine ‘good’ recycling behaviour? 6. Educate students about recycling. 4. ‘Wrong’ recycling left in black boxes etc by collectors 7. Educate people, especially people new to country 5. The sweeping machine – either they don’t speak English or they don’t This is used for litter picking – all it does is blow the understand what recycling is all about – leaflets litter further into the bushes – I have walked behind it in different languages. from Owen Square towards Rose Green bridge and 8. Co-ordinate street sweeping after kerbside seen it pick up very little. This week it was collecting collections litter and leaves with a man sweeping them into its 9. Need quicker Council response to complaints re path – a little more efficient but when the machine went litter, fly-tipping and graffiti to be emptied the sweeper sat by the path for over half 10.More plastic collection points & street recycling an hour awaiting its return. In Frankfurt I have seen a 11. Maintenance schedule for cycle track and the similar machine working at twice the speed with a paths leading onto the track. young and energetic sweeper each side directing litter 12. Better enforcement/use of fines for littering in. Optimum use of such expensive hardware is its 13. tell people about successes justification. 14. Quicker action against private land owners. Street sweeping On Battersea Rd the regular sweeper is an elderly man
with obvious health issues (overweight & stops for 10 mins to smoke, coughs all the time); he does a very slow and inefficient job. On Chelsea Rd there is a young woman sweeper working who is energetic & efficient & leaves the street clean. I suggest street sweeping is an arduous and strenuous physical job & workers should be appropriately fit and motivated. Railway Path access paths The paths from each street (Battersea, Chelsea Park, Colston Rd, etc) never get litter picked – is it the street sweepers job or the parks dept.? The steps from Devon Rd down to Colston Rd are particularly bad – there is still gravel on them from last year’s snow & it is very slippery and dangerous. Rubbish dumped (seen today) at Dove Lane – little triangle of land along side of house. Rubbish in Dings Park (last weekend) Road sweeper walks up middle of road and does not sweep – he only carries a litter picker. No bins on cycle track in The Dings. Alleyway between 2 parks in the Dings – constantly used for sex, drugs etc – lots of clean ups have taken place but until it is gated problem will keep recurring. Garage on Canterbury St [between Queen Ann Rd and Salisbury St, Barton Hill] used as dumping ground for householders’ rubbish, furniture, chairs, etc. Are we providing information to ‘new’ residents about recycling and other services? In particular, are there targeted campaigns for students? Picton St/ Richmond Rd/ Picton Square commercial bins are becoming community bins – we need proper community bins including RECYCLING on Picton
Street. Bin bags out on street all were from flats. Lack of bins in Ducie Rd. Only 1 by bus stop. Clearing up outside settlement! Bin is used for household waste Church St is already becoming an eyesore Bin store on Ducie Rd by the front of car park is a disgrace SITA not picking up any rubbish that they drop, left on roads and pavements Fly tipping in Dove Lane Street cleaning – much of the litter is cans and bottles – what measures in place to recycle these. A lost opportunity to recover materials? Householders expected to recycle – surely street cleaners should too. More street recycling facilities needed. Belle Vue Road – especially from the top of High St, Tudor Rd & Washington Avenue - there is often an accumulation of litter, especially around the litter bins which are often overflowing. Stapleton Rd plastic collection point is not emptied often enough – often looks messy & hotspot for fly tipping
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Greenery and public spaces
PROBLEMS/comments 1. Weeds never cut back along railings of Mary Court along Victoria Parade 2. Lane at the back of Heber St next to the Academy. Shrubs are overgrown and blocking path. 3. Dove Lane behind Morefields overgrown shrubs [Redfield] 4. All planters in the Dings have never been maintained by the council – only by residents, but after 5 years residents are giving up – so now very overgrown. 4.1 Large planters on Sussex Place, St Pauls look untidy and contribute to feeling of neglect – they need to be planted up so they are full of greenery and maintained, the outsides of the planter need to be cleaned – thy are fly-posted regularly and when fly-posting is removed little pieces of paper remain. 5. Stokes Croft & Moon St covered with tagging – council is kindly going to try to get rid of it – but I want it not to happen in the first place! Stronger policing. 6. Stokes Croft is a main route into the cit and needs a major clean up very soon. 7. Junction between Whitehall & Eaton Rd – hanging foliage from cycle path – need to cut off and maintain. 8. Park benches are shabby and uncomfortable – all need replacing. 9. Bellevue Rd park – families congregating leave a lot of litter behind – possible to communicate with them in their own language, to avoid future problems. 10. Lila park, Salisbury St not maintained effectively. Dog owners using it to walk dogs. No dogs. 11. Park benches.
SOLUTIONS/feedback 1. All green spaces should be mowed regularly. 2. Finishing off the edging of grass. 3. Support families to look after small sites that are neglected. 4. Remove tagging from Ducie Rd bridge 5. Apparently ‘Area Foremen’ for parks will respond if you contact them – you shouldn’t have to phone the Council. If this is the case it should be widely kwon – who are the park foremen? What are there names and contact details? 6. Publicise the standards for all parks and green spaces and who you phone in the park. Sign when grass cut/litter picked etc so there is public information about what happened when. In theory there is already a monitoring system. Need to know what it is. 7. Better use of fines, e.g. dog fouling or providing of dog bins. 8. Publicised park/place inspections to check things like condition of benches. 9.Graffiti – engage young people to be part of their communities; use CCTV on places that are persistently tagged to catch offenders; better enforcement re tagging. 10.Joint/cross Council response to problems. Ian Vehicle – team dealing with everything they see. 11.One Council approach to land/maintenance. 12.Housing/park land – differentiation is a problem. Drains on house land. 13. RE point 14 Councillor Kiely suggests using Probation Service (offenders) to clear. Alternatively ‘over grown’ shrubs is also prevent people using back alleyways so can also be a
Some of the park benches in Owen Square have been removed, others have no backs. To enable older people to enjoy open spaces park benches with backs are essential. Also the more people can sit and watch the world go past the safer the place will be and feel. 12. Lack of cutting all green spaces in Goodpenny. Some are missed at times and then not done until the next time. 13. Dings Park – shrubs are cut back. The moss is at a dangerous level on the paths, someone will slip very soon. 14. Lane between Victoria Avenue and Roseberry Road – LOCKED GATES prevent access. Lane overgrown with shrubbery. > I was going to write this. 15. GRAFFITI! Railway bridge on Ducie Road mural has been subject to tagging of late. I think it is a bad sign! >(NB We used anti-graffiti paint on the mural so should come off easily) 16. Barton Hill Settlement – not maintaining the car park Ducie Road and Morton St. 17. Many green/public spaces/shrubbed areas/little pockets of land in the inner city don’t seem to have maintenance schedules. 18. Litter picking in parks is too infrequent – litter picking the parks when the grass cutting gets done is not enough. 19. Trees and shrubs that are not in parks don’t seem to have maintenance schedules. 20. Council persists in treating land ‘owned’ by various council departments differently – housing land (even if it is the public domain) is a lower standard – all have different accountabilities and creates confusion. If the Council is serious about improving standards this must be part of the
solution. If the alleyway is not needed/used so long as the shrubs are not out of control think carefully about removing them. 14. Dog free areas in public parks enforced. Lila park dog free please. 15. PG to advise Barton Hill Settlement re no 16. 16. There needs to be a map of council owned land with maintenance regimes agreed and publicised. 17. The Council has a single contract – there are not different standards/approaches according to departments but depending on use/need etc. 18. Pavements in well used areas to be properly cleaned including removing chewing gum at regular interval – e,g. twice a year.
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solution. For areas like the inner city where there is a significant amount of land owned by the City Council this is a real problem Main footpaths/pavements such as Stokes Croft, Stapleton Road, Church Road and Old Market should be cleaned regularly to remove chewing gum and to return the pavement to a better condition – this never seems to happen – why not? 3. Report PROBLEMS/comments 1. Generally speaking, once I have reported some fly-tipping, it has been collected within 48 hours. 2. Council workers and contractors interpret their role/are given roles which are narrowly defined. Street sweepers, for example, are on the patch every day. They could be reporting problems and even be a contact point for information. 3. Phoning in problems costs money – this is a major barrier to many people reporting problems. 4. How can I change the day my road is swept? Ducie Road Tuesday morning, bins are collected Tuesday afternoon.
5. How do I report? Where and to whom?
SOLUTIONS/feedback 1. Reporting is easy and personnel are very helpful for those who understand how. Need to tell the public in a non preachy easy to understand way how to report. People more widely not just activists need to experience the system working. 2. Reporting is much improved and often the Council person will call back. 3. When reports are made a timescale within which the issue will be dealt with is given which is good (this is not everyone’s experience – need consistent standards). 4. ‘Fixmystreet’ website works well – need to promote. 5. Graffiti on private walls (etc) – especially if it is reported more than once and it has not been removed, it would be good to have some information back as to what attempts have been made to work with the landlord(s)/owners to solve the problems. 6. All Council staff should report fly-tipping (etc) in an area that they visit (so that it doesn’t have to be reported by the
5. The Council’s computer doesn’t know if I’ve something more than once... (I can call about the same spot 10 times). >Yes they do. 6. When I phone the Customer Services the woman recorded telling us to press this for that is so interminable it becomes irritating. We don’t need to be infantilised, she sounds as if she is talking to 5 year olds. Short and snappy and functional please. >As this is a recording we ‘totally disagree’ x 3.
public in order to be dealt with). 7. Give street sweepers and other council staff/contractors responsibility for the environment/the area, foster a relationship with the local community. 8. Council/contractor operatives & PCSO etc who are out and about to have a GPS camera which will send a picture to the call centre giving the location of the problem automatically. This involves no phone call. 9. How to relieve people of the cost of reporting problems? Freephone or texting? Less reliance on residents more reliance on paid people. 10. Computer system needs to recognise when the same problem/site has been reported more then 3 times – this needs to be graded as a ‘red’ action and taken up by the enforcement team to investigate. The person reporting needs to know this is the case.
4. Response PROBLEM/comment 1. Poor police response times. 2. If a report does not get cleared there is a system for S.I.T.A. to flag up why – but no system to report that to public. 3. I find response is quite good but does not operate at weekends 4. I feel things are improving in advising the public – BUT it needs much more one to one. 5. Reported blocked drains on paved areas in Goodpenny several times to date. Hasn’t been auctioned for at least 12 months.
SOLUTION/feedback 1. System for reporting to the public what has/hasn’t happened. 2. System for reporting and getting things done about the problems needs to be available at the weekends (and perhaps early evening – council operates at the same time many people are at work – needs to be available when people are commuting to and from work – this is when they are out and about. 3. One to one advice and support to those who need it. 4. When problems are reported through the call centre assume that residents want an update rather then assuming
5.1 Blocked or smelly drains is a problems across the inner city – it is unclear what the system is for the public getting this dealt with. Grosvenor Road, St Pauls and Stapleton Road are examples of particularly smelly drains. 6. Time frame and effective management. 7. In the past I have been asked “who’s” land is it on – who cares if its on the road, in the park or cycle track. 8. Litter behind bushes on paved areas in Goodpenny is reported continuously by several residents – it takes some time before it is dealt with and residents think nothing is happening. They get fed up with the time taken and don’t bother again. 9. I think the litter control on the Railway Path between Church Rd and Devon Bridge is much improved compared with say 2 year ago. Also Chelsea Rd is hugely better. So the ‘Environment Group’ meetings which included Council officers heard what we said and acted – that was in ECP days.
they don’t (people can get an update if they request one) OR all call centre operatives should ask the customer if they want an update which is not the case at present.
5. Monitoring of contracts/work PROBLEM/comment 1. What is the current system of monitoring? Many people don’t know what it is and until it is better understood, we won’t be able to tell how effective it is. 2. I have not ever experienced monitoring in action and I have never received or seen (in local places or paper) any writing on this matter. 4. Systems need to be more transparent and open to improvement. 5. Residents are eyes and ear of the area. Reports results
SOLUTION/feedback 1. An article in ‘Up Our Street’ to advertise the Council Departments/Customer Services. 2. A leaflet door to door specifically on the subject of street cleansing with a questionnaire about the issue, asking for ideas for how to monitor street waste cleaning. 3. Street Monitors/Champions should be more involved in a systematic way, perhaps sent a regular questionnaire, a bit like the Citizens Panel, to gather feedback about their street/area.
should be fed back. 6. Have monitored fly-tipping on Jane Street corner – as fast as it is cleared it returns with another load of rubbish.
4. Can a computer based system for the street cleaning/sweeping teams to confirm, on a daily basis which roads have been swept (and how – i.e. mechanically or by hand) and this information accessed by members of the public? This is the only accurate way of delivering monitoring by the public. 5. Operative to sign on a monitoring chart when the street has been swept (initial/time) on a public display on each street/in the parks etc.. (like the system they use in public loos at service stations and super markets) and a number for residents to contact if they have complaints. 6. Use ‘spot checks’ or a ‘mystery resident’ approaches to monitor. 7. Explain to the public simply and clearly the service they can expect, who to contact if they have a problems and what they can expect to happen.
6. Responsibility for getting things done PROBLEM/comment 1. It is EVERYONES 2, The problem is - not everyone takes responsibility... :0( 3. Civil responsibility for a caring community.
SOLUTION/feedback 1. Any person who lives or works or has a business should take some responsibility for the area. 2. Local groups to help persuade locals that it is not just the Council’s responsibility. Individuals have a responsibility, e.g. taking bins off street after collection and putting bins out on the right day. 3. Shops – Could go back to cleaning outside their own shop fronts once a week or so. 4. I have been litter picking the railway path between
Battersea Road and Owen Square. 5. Contractor (SITA) should take responsibility and liaise with voluntary groups. 6.Youtube/adverts in Cinemas etc but not written produced by the council. Council speak turns people off. 7. Learn from other areas that are clean.