Friday, June 12, 2009

Council's Load Of Rubbish

Reader Ernie from Newington writes:

Hello. On Wednesday after leaving the doctors in Dumpton Park Drive I thought it would be nice to walk down to the sea front via Bellevue Rd. As I got to Arklow Square the druggies were waiting for their supplier to arrive (nothing new there), it was then that I noticed the mess that was strewn across the road. Almost without exception every bin bag had been SEAGULLED.

When I then looked along Augusta Road it was just the same. Good job the B&Bs have gone. I had to return to the doc's at tea time, got off the bus in Plains of Waterloo. Yes the bin bags had gone but the CRAP was still all over the road and pavements. I live on the Newington Estate and the road sweepers follow the bin men. Yes we do have wheelie bins but the spillage is cleaned up.

I thought you would like to know that us from up here in the 'jungle' do notice things, and I did call TDC. And I like to read your blog. Regards, Ernie.


Well Ernie, I can vouch for the fact that the East Cliff is looking decidedly grimy these days, following the decision by numb-nuts at the council to withdraw weekly sweeping, and to refuse wheelie bins for the refuse. You might like to know, however, that not all the B&Bs have gone. In fact the Glendevon in Truro Road is rated the best B&B on the island according to TripAdvisor! Quite what visitors make of the soiled nappies and crushed Stella cans lining the street, heaven knows.

As an illustration of just how crap the, er, crap looks, I've plucked this snap off the excellent FixMyStreet website, where you can complain to TDC to your heart's content!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's blindingly obvious that the morons at TDC didn't write in any quality standards when they awarded the contracts for clearing our rubbish. Otrherwise there would be financial penalties for leaving the streets in this state. We need to better people running our Council and we need to sack the current rubbish collectors.

Incidentally, if you go over the road from Churchills pub and look down into the harbour you'll see wheelie-bins. Thousands of them. They've been there for months. Presumably somebody has paid for them. So, why aren't we using them? I think we should be told.

Anonymous said...

I saw all those wheelie bins they must have come from abroad,what a pity our council can't shop in England perhaps we might have some form of latch on them, because they are top heavy and blow over in a moderate wind spilling the contents everywhere,
Stargazer.

Observant Ramsgate resident said...

You can't just blame the street cleaners - they clean where they are sent and on Sat and Sun mornings are out in force cleaning up after the previous night's drinkers in the town. Thank goodness they do otherwise any dogs or children using Boundary Road rec would cut themselves on all the broken glass and cans left behind by thoughtless young drinkers. They set fire to the rubbish bin some time ago but would probably not use it even if there was one - though I agree that some sweepers to follow the refuse collectors would be sensible.

Anonymous said...

yes when i drive thro Ramsgate there is rubbish on all the streets where the seagulls have opened the bags, think wheelie bins havent been rolled out there yet - is that correct!?

Anonymous said...

The council has said it is 'too difficult' to deploy wheelie bins in parts of Ramsgate because of the density of the housing.

What a load of cobblers. You see wheelie bins all through London, it doesn't get much denser than that (apart from at TDC HQ). And why are there hundreds of wheelie bins down at the port?

Jean said...

Not too sure I like my neighbourhood being described like this. There is an issue but it ain't as bad some of these commentators are implying. I don't live in a rubbish tip.

Anonymous said...

You don't live in Ramsgate then.

Laurence Davies said...

I agree totally with the majority of comments regarding cleansing in Ramsgate. I have been in correspondence with Thanet Council for over 2 months, including my local Councillors and the Cabinet member responsible for waste collection, regarding amongst other things the future roll out of wheeled bins. The present situation as I have been told is as follows:

• Approximately 41,000 out of 64,000 properties in Thanet have a wheeled bin service.

• Future extension of the scheme is dependant on funding. Up to now the scheme has been funded within existing budgets.

• I was chastised by saying the future extension of wheeled bins service to additional areas was zero, however, an officer stated that the chance of extension was minimal.

• I made reference in my correspondence to the large volume of bins lying unused at the Manston Road Depot and Ramsgate Harbour. The only response was that they were possibly needed for replacements!

I have come to the end of the road as far as getting any progress on this matter from the Council. The attitude of the present Administration was exemplified by some of the comments made by Cabinet members at the full Council meeting on 23rd April discussing the cleansing issues in Ramsgate raised by Councillors Campbell and D Green. The theme for the evening was how dare you raise this issue. One view point that particularly grated with me was the sneering and condescending attitude of Cllr Wise who said words to the effect there is no more money for this and those who have not got wheelie bins should buy ordinary bins!

Finally the cleansing operatives on the front line do the best they can, the problems lie with the minority of filthy individuals who create some of the mess, the gulls who are doing what comes naturally and the present Council Administration. I myself would be happy to pay another £20 a year if I knew it would go into cleansing and waste collection and we could see some tangible improvements in Central Harbour and Eastcliff.

Anonymous said...

The main problems are caused by people dumping black sacks on street corners which get left there for several days until the gulls attack them - then the contents are strewn all down the street and lie there for days until the wind blows them somewhere else. Communal hopper bins in certain suitable areas may help to solve this problem.

Anonymous said...

B*ll*cks. I put my sacks out in the morning when I hear the dustbin cart approaching. In the couple of minutes that elapse between putting them out and the dustbinmen arriving the gulls have often ripped them open. And you can't stand guard because the dustbinmen come along and collect the sacks, piling them up in a heap in the street to make it easier to throw them onto the cart. You should see the gulls go for the heap.

I'm sorry, but I pay the same Council tax as the other people who HAVE been given wheelie bins. I suspect I pay a lot more than many of them. Why should I receive a lower standard of service? If you aren't going to deliver the same standard of service to me you need to give me a rebate on my Council tax.

Anonymous said...

Probably written by some w*nk*r who doesn't get out of bed in the mornings and doesn't see what havoc the gulls can wreak in a couple of minutes.

Anyone up for creating an Alfred Hitchcock spoof with the birds attacking dustbin bags in Ramsgate? I bet the Gazump wouldn't print that one.