In an about turn Tory Leader Mike Fisher has
welcomed the report produced by the Independent Commission on Croydon North
Streets and has promised to convene a cross-[arty scrutiny panel to consider
its recommendations. This came in the form of a letter to Commission Chair Nero
Ughwujabo (CEO of the Croydon BME Forum). At the Council meeting on 27 January Fisher
was denying that the Commission was independent. The letter will be posted on
the Commission website. Nero read out the letter at the launch of the report on
Thursday 6 February at the Town Hall.
The launch was well attended including by Steve
Reed and some Labour Councillors, members of local organisations like the
Communities Consortium, Croydon Citizen and Croydon Radio, Labour Councillors and
many members of the public who had either attended Commission public meetings
or were among the 300 people who submitted written views.
Labour Leader Tony Newman welcomed the report, saying
that action to improve the streets was going to be a top priority for a Labour
controlled Council. He would be calling for an emergency Council meeting to
discuss the report to be held before the period in which the Council has to stop
having meetings in the run up to the local elections in May.
I congratulated the Commission on the fact that
its recommendations are common sense. Because they have cost implications, the
room for manoeuvre will be difficult because of the reduced budget for 2014-15,
and that pressure will continue to need to be put on the political parties. It
would help if the Consortium meeting on Rubbish on 12 February was well
attended. I also pointed out the importance of Cllr Fisher’s about face.
Summary of Recommendations
The recommendations in summary form are:
· Removal
of the £10 charge for bulky items disposal
· Provision
of larger communal bins in areas of very high-density population
· Improve
publicity that larger bins are available for larger households
· Increases
the number of public litter bins
· Increase
the frequency of emptying public litter bins
· Re-consider
whether weekly bin collections are appropriate where there is a high number of
multiple-occupancy dwellings
· Street
cleaning should take place after the weekly bin collection.
· Ensure
that small businesses all have appropriate waste management licenses.
· Waste
management be a key factor in agreeing licences for new business premises.
· Reassess
the provision of blue and green boxes given items inside boxes are often blown out.
· The
Council should be proactive in contacting and supporting Residents Associations
who make local efforts to clean up their areas .
· Reinstatement
of support for Residents Association clean-up campaigns.
· Review
the approach to enforcement.
· Reassess
the street cleaning provision following large events.
· Work
with landlords to ensure that properties with a high turnover of tenants are
not dumping furniture when their tenancies end.
· Brighter
lights may discourage fly-tipping in problem areas.
· Continually
run a Keep Croydon Clean campaign.
· Jet
wash streets regularly to remove slime and chewing gum.
· Croydon
Congress should consider Croydon North as a topic for discussion.
· The
two main parties should consider reflecting the findings and recommendations in
their Manifestos.
The full report will be posted on the Commission
website: http://croydonnorthstreetscommission.com.
Consortium 12 February Meeting on Rubbish. See http://croydoncc.wordpress.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment