TCI commentary:
This tale of troubled waste management in Croydon highlights a lack of consultation because the Purdah rules prevented discussion of new controversial proposals before the May elections. In The Politics of Consultation – published on 12th July, we argue that rigid application of these rules can have the effect of shutting down debate at the very time when politicians should be accountable for the promises they make and the impacts of their policies. Read this (long) article and see if you are convinced that local people have been fairly consulted about the forthcoming changes!
Article:
Residents across Croydon have been united in their anger and frustration at the plans of the council, together with waste contractors Veolia, to QUADRUPLE the number of wheelie bins some households will be expected to accommodate.
The changes were announced on June 11 – fewer than 40 days after Tony Newman and his Labour group were re-elected to run the council for the next four years.
So residents’ anger risks turning into fury as they realise that the waste collection changes, outlined in leaflets being delivered to every home in Croydon this month, were originally meant to be imposed on them in April, but were postponed mainly so that Newman and his colleagues might avoid the political tsunami which might have hit them in the voting booths in May.
The changes, to be introduced in September, were never the subject of a public consultation. But Inside Croydon has learned of seething frustration among many Labour councillors, because even they were never told of the true extent of the changes as announced this month.
Similar widescale changes to the bin collection service were imposed on Sutton residents in April 2017.
The changes are all part of a contract with Veolia through the four-borough South London Waste Partnership, of which Croydon is a member. The changes wreaked havoc in Sutton, earning the trending hashtag #SuttonBinShame, and from which the borough’s residents have yet to see any genuine improvement in service.
At the local elections in May, Sutton’s ruling LibDems lost 12 council seats, the election set-backs thought to stem from the widespread deep dissatisfaction with #SuttonBinShame.
But now Newman’s Labour council could be facing #CroydonBinChaos.
Three-quarters of homes in the borough will get a new day of the week for rubbish and recycling collections from September.
“That just means that there will be another day of the week when the bin men fail to collect our rubbish,” one disgruntled resident told Inside Croydon, whose food waste has stood outside their home, festering in the summer heatwave, for three weeks.
The biggest change in the service provided will be the replacement of the current recycling boxes with wheelie bins. Residents will be expected to re-utilise their 240-litre wheelie bin, currently used for general waste, and instead use it for their recyclable glass, plastics and cans.
They will also receive a second 240-litre bin (with a blue lid) for paper and card recycling.
And all households will be given a new wheelie bin for general waste.
But instead of the current 240-litre capacity, this will be just 180-litre, or what Croydon Council’s propaganda leaflets claim is “slightly smaller”.
“That claim’s simply untrue,” one Katharine Street source told Inside Croydon.
“How can they even dare to say that in an official council leaflet?
“It’s just three-quarters the size of the current general waste bin. Remember, these wheelie bins were introduced at a time when Croydon Council was providing Council Tax-payers with a weekly rubbish collection service. Residents have had to endure a somewhat unreliable fortnightly collection for six years now, and our streets are regularly lined with unsightly bins that are over-flowing with household waste, waiting for Veolia’s collection day.
“Now they think residents will be able to manage with something which is much smaller. They are being unrealistic, and it will just make our streets smellier and more rubbish-strewn than they are already.”
Having not been consulted on the changes, senior figures within Newman’s Labour group have expressed deep concerns. One Town Hall Labour figure, of cabinet status, said of the scheme when it was announced, “What about families with small children? What are they going to do when their children’s nappies don’t fit into these much smaller bins?
“People will go bonkers if their landfill bin is replaced with a smaller one if they are large families.”
Those who pay for green waste collection will also have a fourth wheelie bin to somehow accommodate on their property.
Even with just one wheelie bin per household, many of the borough’s more densely populated streets, with HMOs – homes of multiple occupation, often Victorian era houses which have been converted into flats – already have their pavements lined with plastic walls of black wheelie bins, often not just on the day of the rubbish collection, but throughout the week.
The bins often block the pavements, causing obstructions for those pushing baby buggies or people in wheelchairs, and they present a real hazard for the visually impaired. “Soon, there will be nowhere left to walk on the pavement at all, all the space will be taken up by wheelie bins,” an unimpressed resident said.
In 2013, the government announced guidance for local authorities “to tackle unsightly bin clutter and ugly wheelie bins”, what they called “bin blight”, “the neighbourhood scourge of middle England”.
The guidance was largely concerned with the design of new homes, “proposals on both housing design standards and practice guidance on planning – which will require suitable provision to be made for proper waste storage in new homes.
“This will help avoid bins dominating residential streets or contributing to increased odour and roadside litter, and problems with rats, mice, flies and urban foxes.”
The then local government secretary, Eric Pickles, said at the time, “For years badly placed wheelie bins and the proliferation of multiple bins have created a blot on the landscape. In streets up and down the country, ugly bin clutter has ruined the street scene and the look of people’s homes and gardens.
“By ensuring that developers create appropriate waste storage areas when designing new homes, we can tackle the ghastly gauntlet of bin blighted streets and driveways.”
Five years on, and that sounds like a description of exactly what Tony Newman, and the council together with Veolia, is about to inflict on Croydon.
The article continues here… and appeared on Inside Croydon
The Institute cannot confirm the accuracy of this story or confirm that it presents a balanced view. If you feel this is inaccurate we would welcome your perspective and evidence that this is the case.
