Forum Topic

Gazette, Mahfouz Flytipping

I suppose I should support Ealing Councils efforts to crack down on flytipping, following Mahfouz self praise letter this week.Sadly he boasts 400 fines have been issued, no doubt to innocent householders trying to put excessive rubbish outside their property or by wheely bins infrequently collected.Soft touchesHis comment cctv just moves the problem elsewhere ( the people who actually need catching) should be a wake up call to him ref Longfield Ave. What does he think the traffic will do??? As everyone keeps telling him g.r.a.s.s - find alternate routes as well

Peter Yale ● 3250d5 Comments

The streets of little cottages have been vandalised by the blanket introduction of enormous wheelie bins.  It says a lot when you can see estate agents pictures advertising these properties where there are no wheelie bins in sight! There should have been more discussion because not everybody has them or needs them.  It is very sad when residents feel cowed into acceptanceNo doubt there are still businesses which do not have waste contracts.  Business Tax does not cover waste collection and disposal.  For businesses with only a little waste there are usually pre-paid bags. The trick is to reduce your waste and turn any left over into something that somebody else wants to buy.

Philippa Bond ● 3249d

The introduction of the dreaded Wheelie Bins was supposed to ensure that our streets would be cleaner, no black bags, overflowing bins, and to deter rats and foxes.Sadly many Wheelie Bins are overflowing with additional black bags next to them. The bins are sometimes just left on the pavement, in some cases there is nowhere for them to fit within front gardens.There has been an increase of RATS in Acton, 2 chased a lady along the street in broad daylight! So nothing has changed.In some gardens the neighbours have a number of black bags lying for days on end, attracting all sorts of vermin. The overflowing bins are not emptied so the piles of rubbish just goes on and on. Some residents just can't be bothered to recycle property so one can't blame the Council for that.However, it is obvious that fly tipping has been on the increase for some time, it is now normal to find dumped mattresses, furniture, black bags, garden refuse all over the borough. Catching those responsible must be really difficult, more CCTV cameras are needed in certain areas and 'grot spots' to try and find the culprits and when they get a hefty fine the message just might get home!The Council could do more surely, At one time they charged residents £20.00 to collect 8 items, now that has DOUBLED to £40.00  Marks & Spencer charged £35.00 to collect an unwanted settee which worked out cheaper than Ealing Council!I believe the Council also charge £20.00 to collect a washing machine or a freezer! That may deter people from using this service so the item just gets dumped in the street!Perhaps a rethink is due???

Jean F Fernandez ● 3250d

Fred, it will be interesting to see how many of those fines result in actual payments. The cavalier nature of the fines imposed that have made it into the press, the lady pouring coffee down a drain, and the old lady feeding the pigeons on Haven Green, make me suspect that the basis of a lot of the fines may be less than robust. So it will depend on how many of them the council can make stick, and how many are genuine.

Douglas Connor ● 3250d

That was fines up to £400, and 4,000 issued, a nice revenue source of up to £1.6 million.

Fred Hunt ● 3250d

Well put Mr Yale!. Mahfouz is just 'virtue signalling', there are no teeth to his actions if there is no means to record the flytippers actions (i.e. CCTV). I believe that if the requirement for all businesses to have a commercial waste contract was rigidly enforced Ealing Council could probably afford to give us weekly collections. At the moment vast swatches of Ealing are being blighted by the late-night-dumping of commecial rubbish from adjacent shops and small businesses which the council is having to collect first thing following morning. No douobt this would not make him, Juian Bell, or their leader Virendra Sharma very popular with Ealing Southall financial power base of shopkeepers and small businesses, however, Mr Mahfouz should be aware that there are far more residents than small businesses (even in Southall!) and that the sweeping swathe of rubbish engulfing the rubbish might cost them the next local (and even general election) in this area.

Douglas Connor ● 3250d