Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Recent disquiet about Rubbish and waste issues on Harringay Online led to one member asking the Ladder residents' group to host a meeting about it.

Ian Sygrave gathered a handy group of folk from Haringey Council and Veolia to attend. At the meeting last week they set out their stall and responded to a wide range of residents' concerns.

The meeting was a well-attended as local residents' meetings go and there was plenty of involvement in what was a well-run event. I thought it was useful both in distilling the general sense of what the primary issues are as well as getting clear and unequivocal commitments from Haringey and Veolia on dealing with them.

Whilst the causes of rubbish are too complex to be fully covered in a relatively short residents' meeting, the group did appear to reach a consensus on what the key issues are. 

Whilst Haringey admitted that they have no magic wand to resolve the issues, their response seemed pretty clear to me and by and large constructive. Almost without exception, for every type of incident, either at the meeting or afterwards in my exchanges with them, they made a commitment to resolve each issue within, what I think seems to be a reasonable time-frame. 

To enable them take action, the Council need to be made aware of issues as and when they happen on an ongoing basis. With the current financial constraints, it's an approach that calls for residents to get involved and to be prepared to interact with the Council to mobilise resources, but surely it's worth giving a go.

So, following the meeting, I liaised with Haringey. Then, with their agreement I drew up a list of all the rubbish disposal issues that were raised at the meeting. For each issue I've set out the Council's commitment to deal with the issue, along with the available contact channels. I sent the list to the Council for comment and approval and they have approved it today. In effect they've signed off on the commitments it records.

It's certainly an advance for me. Bar anything I may have missed, there is now clarity on what issues we can report, how to report them, what the Council will do about it and how quickly. 

One of Haringey's waste disposal bosses said, "If you come across any of these issues, all you have to do is contact us and we'll get it sorted". I believed that he meant what he said. So let's test it out. Got a waste problem? Find it on the list and report it!

It may be an idea for people to share successes or failures they encounter, both here and/or at future LCSP meetings.

The list is attached below.

Tags for Forum Posts: love clean streets app

Views: 2414

Attachments:

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

As far as the Council/Veolia's use of Twitter is concerned, the following just announced itself in my Twitter inbox:

So Veolia UK are apparently willing to use Twitter. But will it have any effect locally? I've asked the resident to let me know the outcome.

I don't understand we why we still have doorstep collections. In Edinburgh, for example, there are communal bins on residential streets;  on-street recycling I think it's called. I've also seen this in various European towns and cities and it seems to work well.

If LBH can remove parking spaces for communal bike lockers I'm sure they could do the same for communal recycling. Obviously it would be a major project but I think it would be worth it in the long run, especially in streets which have no front garden or anywhere to store bins.

Btw, I am not advocating a return to the huge bottle bank by the tube station type set up!

The major problem with your suggestion is that no-one is going to want such a communal bin outside their home, due to the disruption and noise, which might be at all hours of the day and night. Also, communal bins on-street for recyclables will inevitably attract fly-tipping of other materials. As we can see from previous posts, fly-tipping is a serious problem in the borough.

Oops, sorry Christopher.  Just spotted your post marking the same point

I’ve seen that in European cities too Angela but those I’ve seen are in areas of very high density, where accommodation is above shops and where there is vacant space at the end of a street.  The arrangement in Paris for big paladin bins like this also relies on daily collection at exactly the same time so people can only put their stuff out x minutes before.  They operatives also clean out the bin and wash the pavement and gutters everyday too.  Not sure who would volunteer to have one directly outside their living room window!

I've seen quite small scale versions outside of major cities, most recently in a very small town in France and which was quite cleverly 'hidden' by a wooden shelter.

Why does the system work in Edinburgh and mainland Europe then?

I’m not saying it can’t work, it can, but it’s not a solution for every area.  

Walk along a street in my area (the Ladder) and residential properties are end to end.  You would either have to locate the large bins right down at the end where the paid for parking spaces are, which would be a hell of a walk from the top of the street, or at intervals along the road.  

Houses on my street have front windows only a few meters from the kerbside.  So the bins could be used by anyone at anytime (unless all residents were given keys and/or the bins had some kind of time lock). Imagine one directly outside of where you live and having a load of bottles and so on being thrown in at 6 in the morning or 10 in the evening.

This seem works really well where ground floor is retail, with habitable rooms above that are not directly facing the bins, or where there are tucked away areas like the bin sheds you see in large blocks and tenements (the sort you see in Edinburgh and Glasgow).  I just can’t see it working in streets of solely residential low rise properties. 

RSS

Advertising

© 2024   Created by Hugh.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service