Thursday 12 April 2012

If Brent Council can't keep our streets clean, what can they do?

Barnhill Road, near Lidl
Out and about leafleting and canvassing in the Preston Road area of Barnhill ward and on Chalkhill this morning it is clear that after library closures and general frustration over Brent Council's poor consultation record, dirty streets is a big issue. Street sweeping was cut last year LINK and when Brent Fightback organised a petition to get the cuts reinstated we were told that residents would not notice any difference,

'If they can't keep our streets clean, what use are they?' seems to be the general view. Of course the public are to blame for dumping rubbish in the first place but the council has an enforcement and a preventative role. On 'The Avenue' I spoke to one man who was using a litter picker to pick up cans, plastic bottles, vodka bottles and crisp packets from his front garden. They had all been discarded by people sitting on his garden wall waiting at the bus stop. He said he had repeatedly asked the council to install a rubbish bin there but to no avail. A simple solution.

On Chalkhill I was struck by the contrast between the cleanliness of common areas within the 'Science blocks' and the street. Metropolitan Housing Association and Pinnacle are clearly doing a good job. Outside as the pictures show Brent Council and Veolia are not:

'Flower beds' on Wembley ASDA's perimeter

The Chalkhill Park site
Chalkhill Road
Corner of Chalkhill Road and Bridge Road
On the Town Hall doorstep at King's Drive
The contract for waste management in Brent comes up for renewal in 2014 and should go out to tender soon. Will it be possible for the bidding contractors to meet the necessary standards of street cleanliness on the reduced budget Brent Council will give them?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We should ALL send our pictures of our filthy streets to Brent council to remind them of their duty.
My street is awash with dog excrement.Disgusting.

The Local Don. said...

You volunteer to pay Council Tax, Brent Council don't have a duty to do anything specific with contributed money. If they did, the streets wouldn't be as you describe (filthy) would they?

If Council Tax was actually used for what is set out in their leaflet, why are empty properties still having to pay 90%? An empty property uses 'no services'

Frozen Council Tax for a reduced service is celebrated as a victory.

The Local Don.

Trevor said...

dirty streets in brent will never change...because we ought to remember that it is the residents of brent that makes the streets the make shift dustbin it has become...it doesn't have to be like this...it can change but it will take the effort on the part of the brent residents that are currently continuing to make the streets of brent dirty, clean...I think sadly that that won't happen...because just as many of the people in brent neglect the streets and use them as dustbins, they neglect their own health too by smoking and when they finish they use the streets and pavements as make shift dustbins which just adds to the already growing litter problem.
if people don't care about their health, time has shown they also don't care about the enviroment.