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| Barn Hill pond |
The park is waterlogged at present with a number of temporary streams and ponds. In contrast with the Spring the ponds are full which bodes well for a better year for amphibians in 2013.
Barn Hill Conservation Group LINK who do so much to conserve and enhance the park have picked up 320 large black bags of litter as well as bigger items since January this year. It never ceases to amaze me what lengths people go to in order to dump rubbish.
This morning in the field below the pedestrian bridge to Shakespeare Drive a huge suitcase had been dumped into the hedgerow. This would have required parking a car by Michael Sobell Primary School, trundling the case up the tarmacked slope to the bridge, down the steep grassy slope on the other side and then bumping it across the meadow. The case had been opened and the contents scattered across the grass. This included dozens of pairs of trainers, a Gok Wan fashion book, a guide to embroidery, an exercise book of poetry and items of clothing.
The clothing could have been bagged and left out with the recycling, the shoes at one of the street side collection banks (the nearest is on the corner of Valley Drive/Kingsbury Road) and the books donated to a charity shop or one of the community libraries. I took advantage of the sunshine on New Year's Day to clear the dump.
The recent figures on the big rise in private rental accommodation does perhaps point to one of the reasons for the increase in fly-tipping. With tenancies changing frequently new tenants throw out stuff left by the old tenants and these are frequently left in front gardens or by the road side. This accounts for the number of mattresses scattered throughout the borough.
One idea I would like the council to consider is issuing leaflets to Letting Agents to go to new tenants about the recycling services and particularly bulky collections. It would be helpful if this could be translated into Eastern European languages and any others felt appropriate.
Here is a reminder about what can be picked up through the bulky collection service:
| Item | Such as | Items must be |
| Furniture-plastic, wooden or metal | Beds, mattresses and bedframes, sofas, tables (larger tables may count as 2 or more items due to their size), wardrobes, armchairs and chairs. | Small enough to be carried and loaded on to a vehicle by no more than two workers |
| Flooring | Linoleum and floor tiles | Bagged or bundled. Wooden flooring or ceramic tiles are not accepted. |
| Metal | Metal filing cabinets less than 40kg and fire guards. | |
| Carpets | Manageable by two people, otherwise it must be cut into smaller sections, rolled and tied. Each section counts as a separate item. Underlay is also classed as a separate item. | |
| Large electrical goods | Washing machines, cookers, microwaves, fridges, freezers, dishwashers, dryers and vacuum cleaners. | |
Small electrical item
| TVs, monitors, Hi-Fi systems and radios | |
| Glass or mirrors | Glass top table, mirrored parts of doors or cabinets and fish tanks. | Wrapped in a safe and secure manne |
