A councillor has called for action after flats in his ward were repeatedly missed from rubbish and recycling collections.
Labour councillor John Allcock said that the “chronic and persistent” missed collections had led to residents filling up his email inbox with complaints.
He raised the issue at a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting yesterday (Thursday 3 February), saying that, since September, residents in Devonshire Court, in Wilbury Avenue, Hove, had suffered persistent problems with long gaps between rubbish and recycling collections.
There was no collection for five weeks in September and October – and then for two weeks during the strike by workers at Cityclean, the council’s rubbish and recycling service.
Councillor Allcock said that there was “one collection on the day the strike ended and then another two-week gap before another collection”.
He said: “Then a three-week gap followed by a collection (after the council was contacted by a journalist on this matter). Then another two-week gap over the winter break until 9 January.
“I have over 40 emails on file on missed collections at Devonshire Court. Unfortunately, this isn’t just an isolated case.”
In October, residents dumped rubbish bags in the foyer of Hove Town Hall, addressed to their Goldsmid ward councillors.
Councillor Allcock told councillors that his colleagues in Westbourne ward had received complaints that flats in the Pembroke area had received just three collections in three months.
Residents in Rutland Gardens had also endured repeated missed collections – and in Central Hove ward it took six months to collect the recycling at Grove Court.
He asked if Cityclean staff actively monitored where teams had missed collections and whether there were adequate vehicles and crew to collect from flats.
When the Local Democracy Reporting Service asked about the problems in December, the council cited a lack of “right-sized” vehicles.
Green councillor Amy Heley, who chairs the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said that she believed that missed collections were monitored.
Councillor Heley said: “I am proud that the administration has committed to a 10-year fleet replacement programme which has already delivered improvements.”
Quote from the article: “Green councillor Amy Heley, who chairs the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said that she believed that missed collections were monitored.”
Believed. Doesn’t know. Really? After so many complaints, dating back years and not months, the lead councillor hasn’t asked to see any reports on missed collections. How can that be? How can the councillors keep a watching eye on a known problem and not see key metrics. That is really basic management.
Here’s an idea: Get a report, say weekly, sent to all councillors with the details of the collections missed. This report should be to hand – if it isn’t then that is an issue that needs to be fixed. If it is available then councillors can check against the reports/complaints that they are seeing and check if the system is working. That way things will be more visible and can be fixed. Surely much better than these never-ending problems.
In Portslade (Harebell drive, hamilton close, fox way, rubbish is once again piling up outside of houses. Its ridiculous after the long strikes, and council threatening us when our rubbish piles are torn apart by animals as if we had some control over it.