Forum Topic

Litter everywhere in Walpole and Lammas parks

It looks as if the bins haven't been emptied for days as they are all full to bursting. So people leave rubbish on the ground next to them and the foxes rip it to pieces overnight and scatter it far and wide. Depressing sight.

Susan Kelly ● 1779d40 Comments

https://twitter.com/SouthHams_DC/status/1279099107697668096/photo/1

Philippa Bond ● 1759d

The Recycling Banks definitely need cleaning in particular the ones on Culmington Road.  They certainly don't encourage people to use them the state that some of them are in.

Philippa Bond ● 1759d

Rosco,I am a member of a political party, however, I am so disenchanted with them locally (the talk is fine, the ideas are great at party policy level, however, the walk is terrible, what they do at local council level bears to realation to the policy - they 'talk the talk' but they do not 'walk the walk') so when that membership runs out I am unlikely to renew it again later this year), what I would ask you to note from a now soon-to-be non-political observer is who would you prefer, Julian Bell, linked to M.P. Virendra Sharma or would you prefer Mik Sabiers, linked to M.P. Rupa Huq (and probably counselled by political advisor Andy Jones (who thinks that pubs and bars NEVER have drug dealers on the premises))?At least Ealing Council is not bankrupt, God only knows what might happen if we get Sabiers/Huq/Jones, remember it is Southall Labour versus Acton Labour and it is more likely that the battle will be between Southall Labour Group and Acton Labour Group rather than between Labour and the Counservatives, I shall be interested to see what you think.

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1764d

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Mark Julian Raymond ● 1764d

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Mark Julian Raymond ● 1764d

Raymond,The problem existed before the Covid-19 and people do not like to go near the bins if they are full, they stink amd the ones with tops on them are ofter caked in old cigarette ends and God-knows-what, basic hygiene requires the bins to be washed and disinfected which is NEVER done, another reason for getting rid of useless Amey the contractor and its 'precious' workforce

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1764d

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Mark Julian Raymond ● 1764d

Parks have several entrances and exits so Bins need to be at all of them.  Problem is watching those who won't go near a bin because " they are dirty".There are a lot of people paranoid about dirty things but not the fact that to keep clean they create dirt for others by dumping it.That's poor housekeeping and poor standards of sea discipline a lot of which is no longer instilled at primary and junior school.

Raymond Havelock ● 1764d

The bins attracted fly-tipping.  There are recycling bins right outside the park so shouldn't be a problem for people to put their on the go bottles and cans in those.  There is a litter bin too beside the bench outside the park. There are two benches inside I know.  The problem seems to be the incapability of people to put things in the bins - let alone the right bins.  We don't yet have bins that fill themselves.In Lammas Park there are very big recycling bins just before the exit onto Northfields Avenue.  Still people put cans in the litter bin right beside them instead of using them.  It's not the council's fault here at all.This morning I was listening to a programme devoted to just this problem on BBC Radio 5.  Apparently the conclusion was not that it is the kids but that it is the adults who are so negligent and filthy in their habits.  If you wouldn't do this in your own home - why would you do it here? Aluminium can be recycled again and again.Broken glass can badly cut the feet of animals as well as cause fires.

Philippa Bond ● 1764d

Rosco, having just watched Council Leader Julian Bell's blog in the ealingnewsextra Coronavirus Update Number 26 he comes across as just another world-weary guy with responsibilities trying to do what we are all trying to do which is to follow the guidelines and hopefully come through to other side of this plague. I don't think there is anything hidden there!

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1766d

We all know that BellEnd and his Southall Posse possess very suspect and warped perspectives, they couldn't care less what you, me, or anyone else, thinks or wants.You have one stark choice, and that is to mobilise and boot them out at the next Council Elections.Meanwhile, they will merrily carry on trashing Ealing and Acton.

Rosco White ● 1766d

Yup Susan, it was called the Maytrees Rest Garden, then the sign got stolen and it now says South Ealing Park on the local maps. Not sure if there is a sign at the moment.It hasn't had any bins for a year or more, there were at least three if not four once, two a year or two ago. It is also down a couple of park benches compared to about ten years ago that were removed when a temporary road was put through there to rebuild Garage School and never replaced. I think one more bench was removed in the past year or two as well. Gunnersbury Park used to have ten times as many bins and ten times as many benches. Clearly fine dining is more important than somewhere for a mere local resident to be able to sit.

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1766d

Is that the park more or less opposite the tube station?

Susan Kelly ● 1766d

There are no bins in the South Ealing Park/Maytrees Rest Garden, once there were three, then there were two, now there are none, local councillors for that Ward take note. Same Ward, Gunnersbury Park is very light on bins, lots of money to build overprice gouging rip-off cafes, none for bins or park banches, extrapolate throughout the Borough

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1766d

Very little litter compared to Bourmouth whose council shifted 41 yes 41 tons of litter from the beaches after the 500000 visitors they had in the warm spell.

Nicholas Beard ● 1766d

Ealing Council are Tweeting that they're stepping up patrols and will be issuing penalty notices for littering.

Susan Kelly ● 1766d

I remember from my childhood the fear that the park keepers in Ealing instilled. Popping up unexpectedly all over the place in Walpole Park in their black jackets with their long round poles with six inch metal spikes on their ends for spearing dropped litter, you didn't argue! You did not drop litter. 'What you doing there!' would come roaring over a hedge or from around a corner. Bring them back! Ealing's original 'Men-in-Black'

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1766d

You can see why the nuclear society doesn't work.

Philippa Bond ● 1766d

Strong Enforcement with Big Fines would arguably fix it virtually overnight.But that won't happen in our "Their Mothers didn't love them" society these days.

Rosco White ● 1767d

"... and open the way to justify more rules and restrictions"So really they want everything privatised and to pay for entry, do they? 

Philippa Bond ● 1767d

If enforcement officers were used more efficiently rather than slapping tickets on carers cars, then the pickings for litter fines in parks might even raise a few extra quid for the badly neglected Care Homes in the borough. or fix the damaged pavements properly.People behaving like this really let themselves down as well as the majority who abide, and open the way to justify more rules and restrictions,

Raymond Havelock ● 1767d

Its everwhere, yesterday for example, Bournmouth and Brighton Lawns!

Nicholas Beard ● 1767d

"They have an aversion to telling things straight and explaining things in details."Many years ago I couldn't understand the Council info so I started to question them.It is all led by the markets.  There is a lot of lobbying.  The Councils are truly left to carry the can as far as waste is concerned. There is a lot of sorting and re-sorting required to get a good standard of recyclate.  We are simply doing a first sort by not putting absolutely everything in together. Yet you see so many recycling bins with plastic bags and lumps of polystyrene packaging hanging out of them which they shouldn't have. To be used for food again packaging all needs to be stringently tested to be food safe. It is interesting that the original waste hierarchy was just Reduce Reuse & Recycle.  Yet we seem to still be struggling a lot with the Reduce bit because presentation and competition is always so high in marketing eg red tomatoes on black plastic trays.

Philippa Bond ● 1776d

I saw the litter picker being used in Walpole Park near the small cafe when there was a outdoor get-together about the Towers.I hadn't come across the one on Ealing Common until this pandemic when I noticed that the picker was missing.To use the QR code you need a smartphone.  It was drummed into me as a child to always take any litter home with me.  Since there seem to be bags of it I presume they are bringing it in bags straight from a shop - although I have once seen an elderly gentleman who seemed to have collected up litter which wasn't his from the park in a bag. I guess he didn't want to sit and look at it.  Now is a great time to take a minimum packaging or plastic-free picnic challenge!

Philippa Bond ● 1776d

Councils  have a poor way of getting people on board.They patronise, pontificate and manipulate.They have an aversion to telling things straight and explaining things in details.No-one is ever answerable or responsible and the culture within Town Halls leaves those most capable and articulate ostracised and sidelined.  It's like a 1960s Boulting Brothers film.  Only worse.They are so politicised that the aversion and avoiding of truth and clarity course right through the whole culture of local authority and , unfortunately much of the administrative parts of the NHS.The waste, inefficiency and half cocked end results from poor decisions and overseeing is there for all to see.The end result is to put the backs up of so many that nothing works as it could or should and even good ideas and best intentions get squandered or simply fail.People just end up as bad as the leadership examples.

Raymond Havelock ● 1776d

What amazes me about all this is why people don’t just take their litter home with them and dispose of it there? Laziness and stupidity I guess.It’s been interesting to note the Council still has the litter picking information boards up in most parks but the actual equipment has long since disappeared. It was launched amid great fanfare a couple of years ago but like many council backed projects simply ran out of impetus and has been quietly forgotten.

Simon Hayes ● 1777d

I don't think it is difficult.  What people don't realise and what still needs pushing is that there is a big difference between your Council's kerbside collection which is what you need to know and check for yourself from the Council and which is generally about the same everywhere and what you can recycle elsewhere eg in the supermarket car parks and electrical shops.Wrap.org.uk was funded by Govt and was working to bring the different Council collections broadly into line with each other and you will find on the website which they update www.recyclenow.com.  You can find out more about the circular economy on the former and you can look up your own address on the latter and find out where the nearest recycling banks are to you.  Your Council should be updating that information so if it isn't up to date let them know!

Philippa Bond ● 1777d

I was thinking about Civic Pride yesterday when I saw how much better the small terraces look when they aren't overwhelmed by huge wheelie bins.  When requests were made for smaller ones if we have to have them residents were told that there weren't any.  It just wasn't true.  People feel intimidated by the Council and don't feel they have a voice.  It is a bit like that age old thing about getting into trouble for sweeping the snow away. Not true.  In other countries you are expected to do it.

Philippa Bond ● 1777d

It's annoying how residents almost look at other residents with derision who sweep up and keep not just their doorsteps clear but the pavements and gullies.So many sitting around fretting over delivery slots but cannot be seen dead picking up old nails and screws left by builders or litter or even leaf detritus and putting it in a bag or at least a neat pile to be removed.There needs to be education in Civic Pride.  Where that exists it is noticeable how much nicer it is generally for everyone and that allows the council services to provide better maintenance if it is looked after and appreciated more. But councils need to be far more pro active and responsive when residents do prepare the way for them to actually turn up and remove the ready to collect detrius.There were streets around Little Ealing/Ealing Park that went 5 months with no cleaning at all with slimy rotted leaves from the previous autumn  still blocking gullies and creating a very slipper road and pavement.But people should do their bit and at the very least not deride those who do.

Raymond Havelock ● 1777d

The thing is recycling is very complicated. People work long hours in the UK and just dont want the agrivation. Things are hard enough in the UK. We need to spend more on cleaning up. Not in this area is the A28, driving from Eastbourne to Lewes is a sight to be seen. Polythene hanging in the bushes litter in waves all along the side of the road. The point is Newhaven port is nearby and its one of the first thing visitors to the UK see. I was picking someone up and they commented. I told them that the council dont clean up. Its so bad it was even raised in parliament. But we all know, you only have to look in Ealing news sheet.

Nicholas Beard ● 1777d

If you leave your recycling beside a full recycling bin it is considered to be fly-tipping.  There's a worrying lack of sense of volume.  You notice that drinks cans and large water and fizzy drink bottles aren't flattened.  It isn't difficult. In fact with most packaging it is easy as it has to be designed to be recycled.  The ribbed water bottles concertina down.Then people don't know what can be recycled kerbside or elsewhere.  There is a misconception that everyone knows.  Although slightly different from Council to Council it is generally basically the same.  There are graphics on the big wheelie bins to actually show you. You don't even have to read words.I am constantly told that these larger wheelie bins are being contaminated by being filled with bags of general rubbish by being just used as general waste bins.  The individual wheelie bins for glass and cans and paper and cardboard have recently been replaced with mixed recycling bins with graphics on the front.  I was bemused and amazed - no saddened and disappointed - by someone attempting to put a wooden lolly stick for a child into one of those bins "because it's recyclable".There is also a litter bin nearby.Materials and Recycling and Waste occur three times in our National Curriculum.I don't think putting bigger bins in is the answer.  Take your litter home!   

Philippa Bond ● 1778d

There a new wave of Dog faeces being left in bags anywhere and even worser baby nappies in bags and sometimes not even that in parks and streets and by peoples front paths. Even on Buses and Tubes.Very bad in South Ealing and Northfields.We have enforcement officers wandering around but only looking for parked car breaches but it's about time fines were dolled out for litter and this public health carelessness.The only thing I can think is that now people have become so paranoid about possible infection that they do not want to go near dirty looking bins so sooner dump stuff. Not helped by the amount of people who still spit and often gob in or by bins.It may be bagged but all the same  It's disgusting and from people who ought to know better.Cycled to Richmond Green yesterday was busy but patrolled by just a few park keepers and they were hot on litter.  By 6pm it was pretty clean. Back in Ealing by 7pm and it looked liked the aftermath of a major event in Lammas and Walpole park.So where is the 'extra funding to enforce services that has been trumpeted by Mr Bell actually going? Not where it's being claimed to be for sure.But it's people and if they cannot comply and behave then start dolling out fines to cover the cost of cleaning up after them.But clean the bins properly and all the detritus around them.The 2m rule applies to objects of risk just as much as humans.

Raymond Havelock ● 1778d

People do not realise they should not throw litter down. Remember we are in an age of takeaways. When I was young people did not need a can of drink on a short bus ride. You did not need a burger to enable you to walk in the park. You went in a pub to get a drink and remember in those days there were limited hours. Now people pop into the newsagent get a can  of dink, the bus comes, no alcohol on the bus so throw down the can. Its no use talking about some old golden age. Things have changed.

Nicholas Beard ● 1778d

No excuse for not disposing of litter properly or taking it home with you.One or a combination of entitlement, laziness, and don't give a fornication. People know full well it is wrong to litter.We are hurtling towards a lovely new type of Society.

Rosco White ● 1778d

Yes, life would have been difficult without domestic bin collections, but I wish people would take their rubbish home with them if the bins in the park are full!

Susan Kelly ● 1779d

I wonder if they have had trouble with clearing litter in mainland Europe. I see our operatives were not given PPE, or indeed extra money for each working day during lockdown.

Nicholas Beard ● 1779d

Nicholas, annoying though the litter might be I think that the Council has done well to keep the domestic wheelie bin collections going in the present circumstances which I think is the appropriate prioritisation. Perhaps the Council could be encouraged to deploy large metal wheeled bins (mixed recycling) or skips at key locations in our parks that hold more and require emptying less often. Perhaps 'Friends of' volunteers and the like could make sure that litter bins are transferred to the bigger skips?

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1779d

Its like it everywhere. In Surrey Frensham Ponds we ankle deep in litter the last weekend as was Newlands Corner, another beauty spot. Same story bins not cleared.

Nicholas Beard ● 1779d

More like fox tipping. It's genuinely the sort of rubbish you put in the park bin, rather than the sort people fly tip, but if the Council doesn't empty the bins ...

Susan Kelly ● 1779d

Fly tipping.

Philippa Bond ● 1779d