Belsize AAG Minutes - 24th June 2015
Waste and recycling - the Camden Waste Challenge - Richard Bradbury, Head of Environment Services
- Cllr Leyland introduced the topic - particularly wanted feedback on how residents found the recent "Camden Waste Challenge" consultation process
- Richard Bradbury gave a presentation on how the council's waste and recycling services might change in the context of the contract coming up for renewal and the need to save £5m - a powerpoint presentation is attached.
- A resident said the consultation day at the Town Hall was very positive
- Residents can visit Bywaters recycling facility to which much of the council's recycling is sent - contact Julie Oram at [email protected] for more details.
Questions, answers and comments
- There was concern about the "black bag" collection might be cut from once a week to once every fortnight. The brown box is not very user friendly and has to be taken away once a week. However much a household recycles there will always be some residual waste which needs to be removed weekly because of its content. The green box could be taken away once a fortnight - doesn't need to be collected so often as recycling is not perishable. Richard replied that frequency of collection has yet to be determined. He added that as a borough we are still not recycling a lot of things which can be recycled and we should be doing more recycling. If black bags do not contain food waste, they are not attractive to vermin. However it would need to be in a container if it was collected it once every two weeks.
- A resident replied that wheelie bins take up too much space in an area like Belsize.
- A resident asked who gave the council the authority to clean the streets once a week. And what do the terms incentivisation and sharing the risk mean. Richard replied that when the council last had to make savings on street cleansing, they found that some streets were cleaned 3 times a week regardless of whether it was necessary. The council has increased enforcement on littering alongside these reductions - it has issued 1200 fixed penalty notices, working in targeted operations. Incentivisation - isn't about penalising people, about offering community benefits/rewards. A resident added that in Denmark, there is a personal rather than community reward scheme. The council is looking at these options as well. At the moment, the contractor simply collects green boxes and they've got no reason to improve recycling rates. An alternative would be to encourage them to work together with the council - they could engage with the community etc. This is what sharing the risk means in this context.
- A resident queried why separate recycling collections were stopped. Richard replied that so-called co-mingled collections were cheaper and make no difference to the actual recycling process.
- Cllr Roy pointed out that Belsize has the highest birthrate in Camden and nappies create additional waste. Richard replied that if waste collections were to be reduced, the council would need to look at impact on particular groups including families . The successful bidder would need to provide nappy collections but this could be done as a separate service - you register and they collect.
- Cllr Roy said that there are a lot of trees in the ward and street cleaning once a week is not enough in autumn. While everyone understands the need for frequently cleaning in areas like Camden Town, it is needed in Belsize too despite it being a wealthy area. There are a lot of young and old people in the ward who can slip on wet leaves etc. Cllr Leyland said councillors get a lot of questions about it. The officer responsible for the "leafing" service was at the meeting and replied that it is hard to predict when leaf-fall will happen and when it does, it happens across the borough all at once. The service does try to prioritise and use its resources in the best way. There is some scope for predicting leaf-fall - temperature and rainfall influence it. In the last two years the council has had more complaints about Belsize and has increased resources accordingly. There has been greater leaf-fall in Belsize but we do not yet understand why there has been this increase.
- Residents raised a few concerns - metal hangers and ready meal containers are not currently recyclable and should be, there are no bins on the street in Hampstead and Belsize and cleaners don't pick up branches. On the Chalcot Estate, there is a problem with teenagers littering in open spaces and people don’t take rubbish to the bins. Council should use CCTV and take photos of people dumping rubbish by the gates not in the communal bins and publicise offenders. The council does use CCTV evidence to issue fixed penalty notices but recent legislative changes have made this harder to do.
- Cllr Bucknell suggested the council could we make savings in road sweeping. Litter picking and scarabs would be a better way. Richard answered that the council is trialling two types of sweeping - litter picking is quicker so can cover more ground.
- A resident suggested that on-street recycling bins need to be emptied more frequently. When they are full, often people dump their recycling next to it. The council officer replied that they are trialling new bins at Swiss Cottage. The design discourages dumping and the aperture prevents misuse. They may well be rolled out across the borough.
- A resident asked for clarification about the financial relationship between Camden and the North London Waste Authority. Richard said that we pay an annual levy to the NLWA. If it hasn't spent all the levy, it's rolled over. The majority of the waste goes to Edmonton which is a fairly cheap way to get rid of waste. It now has no capital costs and we get an income from electricity sold back to National Grid.
- The council is keen to talk to community groups about how they could work together on recycling projects.
- Compost produced from green waste is sold to the horticulture and agriculture, given to community gardens and has been sold at Regis Road.
- There was a discussion about enforcement - the council's wardens, enforcement officers and police share information to help enforcement. We do ask residents to report enviro-crime and it is acted on although for a successful prosecution a signed witness statement is required. See http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/transport-and-streets/clean-streets/ for details.
- A resident suggested a creating an app to report missed collections - Veolia often miss collections on Haverstock Hill.
- A resident asked whether environment services and the police could work together, suggesting that perpetrators could clean up graffiti and pick up rubbish. Richard replied that his service did work with the council's Youth Offending Team and Sergeant Clarke said that victims can ask the police to deal with it informally e.g. a perpetrator could repaint a door instead of being charged - but it must be by mutual agreement, it is known as community resolution.
- The councillors did a straw poll and most attendees said they wouldn't be happy with fortnightly black bags collections. Richard did another straw poll about whether people recycle all they can and a majority of the audience put up their hands – answering ‘yes they did’.
- Cllr Leyland asked if there would be consultation on the different models put forward by bidders and just as now on the general principles. Richard replied that the procurement process has to be closed so they're wouldn't be consultation on specific proposals. Cllr Roy mentioned the Housing Procurement Panel in which tenants are involved in reviewing and scrutinising bids and asked if it could happen for the waste contract. Cllr Leyland asked Richard to consider how residents might be involved in the procurement process .
Crime in Belsize - Sgt Nick Clarke, Safer Neighbourhoods Team
- There have been several serious crimes locally recently - a torture and kidnap case, a stabbing and a sexual assault on a child. The Councillors invited Sgt Clarke to discuss them. Belsize isn't Sgt Clarke's beat but he will feed back to the local Sergeant. Sgt Clarke said he can't provide details of live investigations.
- Councillors were surprised to see the torture and kidnap court case in the paper - it was the first they had heard about the crime. Sgt Clarke said that kidnap investigations have to be very discreet and in this case there was the risk of witness intimidation. The crime took place on the Chalcot Estate but Sgt Clarke reassured residents that it involved people who were already involved in criminal activity and local people were not at risk.
- He said that the stabbing was also related to other criminal activity rather than a robbery gone wrong and that arrests were likely shortly.
- The child sexual assault took place in Steele's Road. There will be a leaflet drop shortly and police are looking for witnesses. There are no suspects at present. It was carried out by two men who smelt of alcohol. Sgt Clarke appealed for information no matter how trivial, even if it doesn't seem to be related. The police would rather have too much information than not enough. Information could be provided to the ward sergeant or via 101. See http://content.met.police.uk/Team/Camden/Belsize for details. A description has been Tweeted but no e-fit has been issued yet, the police are trawling CCTV.
- One resident complained of a lot of nasty incidents in Steele's Road and that there were no uniformed officers patrolling after 6pm. Sgt Clarke replied that officers were pulled into the "night time economy" in Camden Town so resources were limited but he would ask for a tasking patrol for the area although there would be no guarantee
- Cllr Leyland reassured everyone that Belsize is a low crime area which is why these recent crimes were all the more shocking. The councillors and Sgt Clarke recommended residents watch the recent documentary about the Met in Camden.
- There was discussion about anti-social behaviour at Swiss Cottage. Sgt Clarke spoke about dispersal orders including one for the whole of Camden which can be used to ban people for up to 48 hours. However he warned that the police shouldn't use them inappropriately e.g. if they don't have the resources to enforce them. However they can be a useful tool to prevent e.g. drug dealing at Camden Lock.
- Paul Perkins commented that Swiss Cottage is where young people converge from 3 schools during the summer. Police, residents and the Winch work well together - it doesn't have to wait until things go wrong. Not all young people are gang members but older people can find it hard to distinguish between gangs and ordinary kids.
All the best,
Claire-Louise, Jonny and Leila
Our ‘surgeries’ offer residents the opportunity to drop by and speak to us about issues or concerns. We'll also be offering a 'roving' street surgery for residents in different parts of the ward, so call us if you'd like to arrange this!
Cllr Claire-Louise Leyland
M: 07798846240
[email protected]
Cllr Jonny Bucknell
M: 07941028088
[email protected]
Cllr Leila Roy
M: 07467338854
[email protected]
You can come and speak to us:-
- on the first Monday of the month from 5.30-6.30pm at Belsize Community Library, Antrim Road NW3 4XN;
- on the third Friday of the month from 9.30-10.30am at Blashford TRA Hall, Adelaide Road London NW3 3RX and Burnham TRA Hall, Fellow's Road, NW3 3JR;
- on the first Saturday of the month from 10.30-12.00pm, we'll have our street stall outside 44 England's Lane, NW3 4UE.
Promoted by David Douglas on behalf of Camden Conservatives, all at 1a Heath Hurst Road, NW3 2RU