Waste Service in Crisis - Livingstone Road rubbish mountain (May 2009)

The City's waste and recycling service seems to be in crisis with rubbish and uncollected recycling throughout Goldsmid Ward. These photos were taken when Councillor Davis was recently in Livingstone Road and similar scenes were found in Shirley Street and Goldstone Road. Below is Melanie's letter to the Council calling for action.

Goldsmid Councillor Melanie Davis

Gillian Marston
Assistant Director – City Clean
Brighton and Hove City Council
Hollingdean Depot

22nd April 2009

Dear Gillian,

Following a number of complaints about uncollected waste and recycling in my ward of Goldsmid, I am writing to you and Cllr Theobald to express my concern with the amount of uncollected waste that is littering the streets.

Some streets in Hove have had rubbish and recycling left to rot on the pavements for weeks (please see photos of Livingstone Road 20th April). Residents are confused about collection days and the current poor service, coupled with the news that the council is to introduce fines, has made some people angry.

I want to be able to tell my residents when they can expect the service to improve. Please could I request that the recycling rounds in Goldsmid Ward are reviewed as a priority to ensure that there are enough resources in terms of collection staff and vehicles to enable the rounds to operate as they should? Can I also give assurances to my residents living in areas that have had unreliable collections, that they will not receive any fines for unknowingly putting out their rubbish on the incorrect day?

I acknowledge that your staff are working as hard as they can to deal with recent changes in collection rounds, but the operations are clearly suffering from their reduced budgets that is now directly impacting on the quality of service that residents should expect.

The confusion surrounding refuse and recycling collections is something that is difficult for ward councillors to deal with if the new collection days are not adhered to by Cityclean. I hope that the situation can be brought under control so that the streets can be cleaner.

Yours sincerely,

Councillor Melanie Davis
Labour, Goldsmid Ward