Our money and then landfill targets sacrificed so the Council can avoid talking to us

Well it's true, someone has taken all the bins away from one side of Floyd Road. The finger of suspicion has got to point at the Council over this. I have called their contact centre to ask and was told that a supervisor would call me back, that was two days ago and I've heard nothing since.

When I discussed this with someone the other night they said to me, "surely the Council wouldn’t just take everyone’s bins away without saying something?" My response came quickly and unthinkingly, "this is Greenwich Council, what do you expect?" It says a lot about the level of service that we get that not only do we get treated with this level of contempt but that it's really not that much of a surprise.

Looking into the future I can see emails and letters going out to various Councillors, a lack of response from them and then the drawing up of yet another Monkey Chart, as if we need further proof of how little our Council cares about us.

So why would the bins have gone?

As I said last time the Council say you can't have a wheely bin where the property has insufficient space for storing the container off the public highway.

I remember also that the staff from Waste Services said to me at last years Great Get Together that "black bins are going to be introduced for black sack waste, couple with this is going to be an increased drive to get bins stored off of the street."

So after we got the black bins could this be the councils drive to get bins off of our streets. If so it's interesting to note that in typical Greenwich fashion the drive involves no consultation and no communication.

Now on the one hand I can feel some sympathy for the Council over this, Floyd Road had dozens of bins along it's pavement and they were often overflowing with the wrong uncollected waste and generating a rather foul smell in the summer.

However walking around the area and seeing the number of other streets that have no choice but to keep their bins on the street and continue to do so I can't help but feel that Floyd Road is perhaps being somewhat picked upon?

Picked on over what? Well regular readers will now of my long running struggle with the Council to get it talk to residents and fix the rubbish problems they, both the Council itself and the residents, have caused.

The Council have tried various "fixes" to avoid them having to actually lower themselves to engage us in a conversation ranging from unannounced regular extra collections through to the recent issue of new black bins. All of which involved spending more of our Council Tax, I can only presume that our Council must be terribly shy.

Could this be another new move from the Council to fix the problem without actually tackling it by simply taking the bins away?

Or is it just coincidence that some new Council drive on bins on the streets starts in one of the streets they couldn't be bothered to try and help?

Also remember that the proliferation of bins was caused by the Council and that as recently as a few weeks ago they were continuing to issue new bins to residents.

The Council, it's Councillors, Waste Services and the head of Waste Services (Jim "I'm an expect of equestrian sporting events, fly me to Hong Kong, someone else can deal with the bins" Wintour) have all known for sometime about Floyd Road and not once have did any of them ever give any sign that a bin purge was coming. Indeed Council Gary Parker was hoping that the new black bins would help out. What a waste of money they turned out to be.

And I can't help but feel that all of this is happening because the Council just won't admit the problems it has caused and just refuses to come and talk to us.

Up until now the Council has been willing to sacrifice our money in order to avoid talking and admitting there is a problem.

Many of the properties along Floyd Road are converted flat and have no access to a garden. Do they really expect them to continue to separate their rubbish out in to three different types and to keep them all indoors until rubbish day?

Or is the latest sacrifice that the Council is willing to make to pay for their lack of action their landfill targets as residents just pop it all into black sacks?

No more bin problems!

The bin problem along Floyd Road appears to have been solved at a stroke! Despite over a year of the Council assuring us that there were only a few teething problems and that giving people even more bins to choose from would solve them decisive action now appears to have been taken.

The bins have gone from one side of the street.

All of them.

Apparently people have had plastic sacks popped through their door.

So do we have a bin thief on the prowl? Some Robin Hood type figure perhaps who believes that a stash of plastic sacks is fair recompense for your wheely bins?

Or could the Council be up to something?

A page on the Council’s web site does say that you won’t get wheely bins where the property has insufficient space for storing the container off the public highway.

Many of the houses along the street don’t have anywhere off of the highway, or if they do it’s accessible via a steep set of steps down to the basement level and that’s clearly unacceptable and dangerous for many people.

And in a fantastic display of financial prudence and joined up thinking the Council have been dishing out extra bins for a while now. New black bins made their appearance along the street a few weeks ago.

So who’s taken my bins away?

If it was the Council then why weren’t we informed either before the event, which would have been nice, or after, which you would think would the bare minimum for any decent organisation.

However you’ve got to admit that it’s a brave solution to the problem, though I dread the state of the street in a few days time…

I should add that I actually haven’t yet seen the results of the great bin dissapearing act but have been informed of it by a friend.

Maryon Park didn't win a grant

Maryon Park was one of the contenders in the Help a London Park competition where a number of parks were going to be given cash grants.

Well the results are in, and unfortunately it didn't win.

The park came third from bottom but did get what seems to be a respectable number of votes (2101).

Greenwich is home to one of the winning parks though, Avery Hill, which must be a good thing.

It's a real shame that Maryon Park didn't win, apparently there were plans to allow access to the Roman settlement and Iron Age fort.

Still congratulations to the winners and fingers crossed they do this again next year.