Problems with rubbish and recycling collections are dominating the time set aside for questions at meetings that were set up to tackle housing-related problems.
Instead, community engagement officials are promising to bring up any problems promptly at weekly Monday morning operational meetings at Cityclean, Brighton and Hove City Council’s rubbish and recycling service.
Tenant and leaseholder representatives have for some years raised problems – including those relating to bins and bin stores at council block of flats – through the council’s housing management panels.
Answers have then been given at the next quarterly housing panel meeting, meaning a long wait for reps and the tenants and leaseholders they represent.
Community engagement manager Sam Warren spelt out the new process at the north area housing management panel yesterday (Monday 4 December).
Reps would be able to contact a community engagement official who would then take it to the weekly Cityclean operational meeting, speeding up the process.
Ms Warren said that Cityclean did not have the capacity to send managers to each of the four area housing panels.
She added: “We mainly try to use area panels for housing issues and we, the community engagement team, have looked at other ways to raise issues about other things to get them resolved more quickly.”
Ms Warren said that the new process would enable crews to identify issues and target them more quickly because often the complaints did not reach the right person.
Problems on council estates range from weeks without collections and not enough bins for flats to rubbish left next to communal bins and fly-tipping.
Residents who do not live in a council property can report missed collections online or raise other issues requiring a clean-up through the council website.
The bins are never collected on Waterloo street we had this several times in the last few mouths
They aren’t set to be collected in a regular basis, a quick check confirms. They are a prompted collection in your postcode.
Ms Warren said they don’t have the “capacity”(staff??) to send managers round.
How about residents nominating a volunteer in their area to represent them at a meeting with staff? Volunteer could ‘collect’ complaints about specific missed addresses and pass them on for special attention/inclusion next collection day.
You can report missing collections, abandoned bins broken glass and spilled rubbish til you are blue in the face even providing photos of staff responsible but no change year after year. Latest complaint led to driveway to flats left blocked by bins. Same guy, arrives looks at bins and leaves empty handed.
I’ve never had an issue with them not turning up and dealing with the issue. I’m wondering how and where you are doing this to get such a voided response?
OK, so if volunteer keeps a ‘diary’ of date and address visited and say once a week sends all info to a specific staff member and keeps a record of who and when.
If no action in 7 days present all info and name of council contact to The Argus, name and shame.