Dirty Dulwich

[Townleygreen]

northlonder, I think if you want a response from James you need to post on his thread which is for that purpose. I don't think he's likely to be able to spot all requests in random places like this!

[northlondoner]

I've tried that Townley.

[fuzzyboots]

I sweep the leaves up outside my house every two or three days at this time of year. Polishes halo :) (as do two or three more of my neighbours).

[James Barber]

I've been told that council operatives have been focusing on leaf clearing and not emptying rubbish bins and dog poo bins. Hence issues across East Dulwich and beyond. Not nice leaving a dog poo bins to overflow e.g. Fellbrigg.

I've been assured that all bin emptying will resume today. God knows why they thought emptying bins could be optional without causing mayhem!

So we should see improvement quickly - but please tell me directly if you don't.

[dumpertruck]

How deep do the piles of leaves have to get before someone sweeps them up? I can say with 100% honesty that I have never seen anyone sweeping any street in East Dulwich since I moved here just under a year ago. Granted, I work during the day.

[Pickle]

A team of council workers have done a great job on Upland Road today sweeping up the leaves and doing a general tidy up - if you work during the day I don't think you will see them dumpertruck, but they are definitely around.

[lane lover]

People are losing their jobs and the economy is not showing signs improvement for a while. If dirty streets are the biggest worry for people, then feel very lucky!

More people should be like fuzzyboots: It probably takes just as much time to write these messages as it would to grab your broom and sweep the leaves from the front of your house.

[dumpertruck]

Fair enough, though I did have to scythe my way through the leaves on CPR and Pellatt Rd this morning on the way to Lordship Lane. Maybe I should take a leaf out of fuzzyboot's book and stop moaning! I'll get the broom out later...

[Otta]

We must be very lucky in Sydenham (Lewisham Council), as I see loads of street sweepers (or whatever the correct job title is these days) in the mornings, and they always have a friendly hello for you as you pass. Sydenham is very leafy (much more so than ED), but the trees are very well kept in check, and when the pavements get covered in leaves (like Jews walk was the other morning), they are gone by the next day.

I guess different councils made their cuts in different ways, but this is an area where I am pleased Lewisham still seem to be spending the money.

[James Barber]

The council used to employ a large number of temporary staff to help with leaf clearing. They're count as contractors and much political hay was made about this. The current adminsitration have decide to avoid all contractor/temps to fulfil an election pledge to cut waste spending. This is why we have such a poor service around this time of the year cleaning our streets - political dogma.

[Sue]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> we also found a pile of phonographic literature

xxxxx

With pictures of old wind-up gramophones? :))

[the-e-dealer]

I have seen a Road Sweeper though he was in Gibbon Road he was attending his toilet. Any more Sightings?

[richard tudor]

Would the closure of many of the area housing offices be to blame and lack of Housing and Estate Officers being out as they used to be inspecting streets before the borough was split into North and South. Also with Southwarks re-organisation i.e getting rid of staff. How can staff in Tooley Street for example or the call centre know what is going on in now lost neighbourhood housing areas.

I sweep the pavement outside my house because it never gets done but resent having to pay over the top estimates for a

non existent service.

Do Southwark allocate a certain number of hours per day/week for this Service and at what cost. Perhaps the Cllr Barber could find out?

[the-e-dealer]

How limited are some peoples views? Ofcourse its to do with employment. The Council has had to reduce cleansing

because of the savage cuts. And this means Fewer jobs.

And the Cleanup on Upland ? Could be related to my other thread on the Filming in Upland Road? he said cynically.

Funally,

Yes it was a Wind up well spotted (at last sue)

Sue Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> the-e-dealer Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > we also found a pile of phonographic literature

>

> xxxxx

>

> With pictures of old wind-up gramophones? :))

[richard tudor]

Perhaps Cllr Barber could furnish the number of cleaning staff the council has got rid off and the number it had last year. Also he could let us know what the cleaning budget was for last year and what it is for this year and how it is allocated through the different wards now and in the past.

To allow us to have a grasp off how deep the cuts have been on all staffing perhaps he might let us know exactly where these cuts have been made throughout the Council.

Also perhaps he could let us know the number of new jobs that have been thought up and filled. This will allow us to see if it means fewer jobs.

[LondonMix]

To the guys who says he's never seen a steet cleaner in ED I can assure at least in some parts they still exisit (though perhaps fewer hours or wider remit). Must say that I haven't seen any deterioration where I live in ED so perhaps some areas have new cleaners that just aren't up to scratch?

[northlondoner]

lane lover Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> People are losing their jobs and the economy is

> not showing signs improvement for a while. If

> dirty streets are the biggest worry for people,

> then feel very lucky!

>

> More people should be like fuzzyboots: It probably

> takes just as much time to write these messages as

> it would to grab your broom and sweep the leaves

> from the front of your house.

You're missing the point. It's not the leaves that are the main issue . It's the flytipping that's left for ages , it's the overflowing street bins and litter lined streets. Last saturday the street sweepers left the bin bags from the street bins out on the road .... for the one hundredth time. Had it been left overnight the foxes would have ripped it open scattering crap up and down the street .

When I was told it wouldn't be moved til Monday I had to shift it myself ...didn't want new GF thinking I lived in a sh@t hole. No point having a go at James B. He appears as p!ssed off as the rest of us.

[cella]

I sweep outside our house each weekend.

[Calsug]

Have to admit it does seem like East Dulwich is dirtier even in the last year since I moved here. Fly tipping is definitely more of a problem for sure and repeat problems like dumping of of household rubbish on the corner of Frien road which invariably gets torn apart by the foxes is a pain...

One thing that does confuse me - in other boroughs the street cleaners have very efficient (and yes probably expensive) sweeping machines but the guys who do the streets here have to manage with a mangey old brush and a shovel - surely this is not the quickest or most efficient way to clean the streets?

[James Barber]

Hi richard tudor,

Southwark over the last 2-3 years has gone from daily litter picking to every other day - but the rounds are such that the current litter picking isn't that thorough as per my casework. From weekly to fortnightly and now four weekly street sweeping.

That this year the bins arent reliably emptied during leaf falls - casework around bins on Fellbrigg Roasd, Henslowe, station, etc this year. And i dont dout the staff are trying to cope as best they can.

At the same time money has been found for election promises such as universal free school meals. Politics ia about priorities.

Do feel free to look through Southwark budgets - the latest is at:

http://moderngov.southwarksites.com/documents/g4038/Public%20reports%20pack%20Wednesday%2029-Feb-2012%2019.00%20Council%20Assembly.pdf?T=10

You can compare to other years budgets from here changing the year and always looking at Feburary Council Assemblies:

http://moderngov.southwarksites.com/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=132&Year=2012

hope this goes some way to answering your questions.

[richard tudor]

Thank you for the response but it does not answer the questions on people

I look forward to hearing from you.

[James Barber]

Hi richard tudor,

Does it matter how many people achieve a task?

It's the task that important.

The council could double or half the number of people but a given task.

I could ask council officials to tell me exactly how many people they now use and past. And I recall a council assembly question around this some time ago but I personally don't feel its a good use of their time.

Regards james.

[dumpertruck]

"From weekly to fortnightly and now four weekly street sweeping"

Apologies for moaning again, but that is totally unacceptable. And, I'm afraid, innaccurate. Pellatt Road, which I walk down every day, has not been swept for at least five weeks - unless the cleaners are picking up the litter and leaving all the leaves, that is.

[James Barber]

Hi dumpertruck,

Litter picking is exactly that.

But the street sweepers every four weeks should be removing the leaf material.

I'll ask when it was was last swept and come back to you.

I have a cunning plan that would see a dramatic improvement for next financial year.

[DJKillaQueen]

If we want to talk about waste of expenditure within local authorities, be sure to mention the millions wasted by the Lib Dem council when it locked Southwark into ridiculously expensive maintenance contracts James....or the ludicrous amount wasted on that darn call centre (which finally and sensibly has been brought back in house). I could go on.

Our estate was leaf cleared last week so no issue there. The general cleaning has been halfed in staff and there are issues from time to time but we are hardly drowning in a sea of litter. There also has to be responsibility taken by the public here too, to not leave as much litter and to manage refuse sensibly.