Complaint Letter: No. 23
Response: Situation remedied by Brent Council.
Councillor James Denselow
30 MOntrose Avenue
London NW6 6LB
15th November 2010
Dear Mr Denselow
You would be mistaken if you thought both of the attached photographs were entries for the Turner Prize. In fact, only one of the photographs was ever an entry for the Turner Prize – the one of Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’. The other picture shows the state of the rubbish outside my home after this morning’s rubbish collection.
While it is admirable that your rubbish collection team have artistic aspirations, it is quite appalling they have left this amount of rubbish – in fact, they have created more mess than there was to start with. The Pampers box comes from my household, and which I originally put inside the bin. If you look at the photograph, you will see that it is now lying on the pavement, along with all manner of things – empty vodka bottles, cigarette packets – why not throw a used condom into the throng? You must surely be aware that rubbish attracts more rubbish, and if passers-by see litter carelessly strewn on the ground, it is often human nature to treat that area with the same lack of respect.
I am most concerned about this situation. It is – by no means, the first time that this has happened, and I am shocked that this is what we are getting for our council tax. Not only that, as the parent of a small baby, I am deeply concerned that this area outside our building has become a breeding ground for germs.
Please would you investigate the matter as soon as possible.
Many thanks.
Yours sincerely
Ingrid Stone
The Response (by email):
From: James Denselow
To: Stone, Ingrid; Rope, Richard
Subject: Rubbish Collection – Winchester Avenue
Dear Richard,
Please see the email below from a constituent who has very just concerns with the quality of her rubbish collection.
Best,
Cllr. James Denselow
From: “Rope, Richard”
To: Stone, Ingrid
Subject: RE: Rubbish Collection – Winchester Avenue
Ingrid,
Thank you for forwarding the picture.
The position with spillage is that Veolia is required the clean up spillage which is caused during the bin emptying process. This photo does not look like spillage as spillage is usually found in the road where the refuse cart stops.
Veolia is not required to take flytipped items e.g. builders bags, uncontained waste or clean up bin areas that are open or “unsecure” as in this case. Unfortunately, large bins such as this are open to everybody and attract fly tips as well as people foraging in the bins looking for food, or clothing or other items.
Cleaning up bin sheds/areas is the responsibility of the land owner, so I suggest you contact them and look at the possibility of them putting a door, or gate up to protect the bin area, or undertake regular cleaning of area as part of their block cleaning.
Hope the above that clarifies the situation.
Regards
Richard
At 15:46, Ingrid Stone wrote:
Dear Richard
Thanks for your response, but if you look closely at the items around the bin, only one of the items is a fly-tipping object i.e. the Morans builders’ bag. Everything else is regular garbage, including the Pampers box, which belonged to my household. The bins became this way immediately after the rubbish collection team departed. If this isn’t clear, I would be happy to send you some more photographs that I took yesterday.
Therefore, I am sorry to say that this their responsibility. Also, as already stated in my email to Cllr James Denselow, this is not the first time this has happened.
Yours sincerely
Ingrid Stone
From: “Rope, Richard”
To: Stone, Ingrid
Subject: RE: Rubbish Collection – Winchester Avenue
Ingrid,
I have checked Winchester Ave and the 1100L bin at your property yesterday and the collection had been done properly.
Regards
Richard
Tags: Artistic, artistic aspirations, breeding, Brent Council, condom, Councillor James Denselow, fly-tipping, germs, litter, My Bed, Richard Rope, Rope, Rubbish, spillage, throng, Tracey Emin, Tracey Emin's My Bed, Turner Prize
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