From a Wembley Matters story six years ago - has there been improvement since?
Following the story on Wembley Matters LINK on the additions to the Veolia contracts, Cllr Paul Lorber commented;
Labour Councillors who signed up to a very bad contract including their so called "intelligence led cleaning" idea now want to pay more money for some extra service - even before they checked if Veolia are already doing what they are being paid for.
Liberal Democrat Councillors have "called in" the decision, with the support of one Green Councillor, to Scrutiny Committee on 2 September - so the decision can be properly scrutinised to clarify what improvements to our dirty streets will be made and whether the £1.5 million extra is the best use of the money.
In our view the whole issue of street cleaning, recycling and dumping in Brent needs to be looked at - but the 'call-in' is restricted to looking at the areas of work included in the £1.54 million proposed.
12 comments:
Why would highly paid Council Officers and Veolia want to solve the problems we face in Brent when it would put them out of work???
It’s good the Liberal Democrat’s and greens are calling this in, even if they hire more vehicles, if Veolia have no obligation to LOOK for and collect flytips they just drive past them! Stop giving Veolia more money until we know there will be a real improvement in the standard of cleanliness.
I applaud our Green and Liberal Democrat councillors for scrutinising the shoddy work Labour-led Brent has been doing for years with impunity, when they had a majority. It appears Brent leader and co. have missed the memo telling them this borough has had enough of their incompetence. It’s time our councillors stop wasting away our money and start using their brains.
Are people actually stupid, you do realise how services work, if you want more work to be done then you need to pay more. Having lived in the borough for decades, its evident the issue isn't with veolia ( yes some workers may not be as brilliant as others) but the issue lies with the cuts the council have chosen to make with basic public services like cleansing, bin collections and parks. This is just another political stunt rather than the liberals actually working to improve the borough. They are just as bad as Labour. Why would you stop extra money from being invested!
Its not clear to me what the purpose of the "call-in" to scrutiny. Are they opposing the extra £1.54million, are they questionning how it will be spent, or are they just wanting better monitoring of Veolia? There are many flaws in Veolia's contract - mostly down to the Council giving them a poor contract - not least that Veolia itself is supposed to monitor its performance, not the Council! But a closer look at the £1.54m shws real problems, not least that that money over a year across the whole borough does not amount to much. But it is primarily "for high streets and town centres", despite the fact that the biggest problems are not there but in side streets and town centres. There is a bigger problem, certainly one we face in South Kilburn, and probably on other Council estates too - the Council refuses to provide sufficient capacity in communal bins, which means they overflow on almost a weekly basis. This is not a Veolia problem, but one the Council fails to address despite the pleas of residents. Further, fly-tipping on estates is a major problem, and has been for years. The Council could put cameras in place to catch the worst offenders - for instance those who turn up in the night and dump builders rubbish, but doesn't. These problerms will not be solved simply by extending Violia's contract.
The starting point is not to pay more - but to actually check if the contractor is doing what they are already being paid for.
If the residents of the Housing Estate (s) you talk about want Cameras then they should offer to pay for them - and the staff to monitor them, and to maintain the cameras and to replace them when they pack up. BUT will the people living on those Estates accept the increased service charges required to pay for this - or are they expecting others to pay?
Brent Council is the landlord of the estates and responsible for their upkeep.
Look at Redbridge, a Labour run council which has protected weekly bin collections, street cleansing and all things related to environment and safety. Whereas Brent Labour waste money on stuff that affect the minority. It is exactly why they lost the majority of their councillors. People want cleaner and safer streets and roads, not money spent on socialist projects.
Yes the Council may be the landlord - but tenants on Council Estates pay services charges for extra services - including dumping of furniture next to normal domestic refuse bins.
My objection to this is where the money is coming from. It should come out of the Housing revenue Account, but Brent have cocked that up, transferring Granville new Homes to the HRA was a terrible decision.
I think if you actually read the contract you would realise the issue isn't veolia, it's the council and the Leader, who has never prioritised stuff on the environment side and keeps stripping money from that area to put it elsewhere.
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