Stuart up on Rufford Street has been doing a great job to hold the council’s waste collection services to account in a long running saga about not collecting rubbish left next to the bins by people who are just plain anti-social:

‘ICSL made their regular collection this morning from the green eurobins opposite 3 Rufford Street but left some black bin bags of extra rubbish and they did not collect other take-away cartons etc. and cardboard boxes left by the bins. Please can these all be removed as soon as possible, especially given the warm weather?’

The bin men then all to often leave this rubbish and Stuart has been on their case for years to bring them back into line.  This sort of active citzenry is vital and helps the council contract managers keep on top of the contractors.

It was rubbish problems on Rufford Street that first got me involved in community action over ten years ago.  All the Victorian tenement buildings had long been flats and one or two hostels and weren’t suited to one bin each, stored on the narrow pavement.  People just ignored them and rubbish piled up  despite enforcement threats.  So I worked with the council to get the big green euro bins in as a communal solution.  This improved things a lot but some anti social folk will insist on dumping rubbish next to the bins, instead of in them.