Hanwell loses out again

Last year, Ealing Labour invited residents to pull the trigger on some of our libraries when they consulted on changes to the Library service. See here

Residents didn't oblige and instead delivered a bloody nose to the Labour party in Ealing which forced them to change their minds and keep the libraries open.

They claimed they would instead cut opening hours by 20 hours a week and that all 40 Labour Cllrs would volunteer two hours a week in our libraries. See here

This week we see that Ealing Labour are cutting Library opening hours by 57 hours and there is no mention at all of the 80 hours a week that the 40 Labour Cllrs promised to do. See here.

Hanwell is set to lose 6 hours at least, while other libraries don't lose any. Labour have not given any consideration to suggestions I made about single manned libraries for certain hours of the day, which would enable them to keep Libraries open longer.

If we want people to use our libraries, they need to be opened longer, not shorter hours. Ealing Labour seem perfectly happy cutting services residents use but not Union facility time. See here

Council may have missed 40,000 rubbish collections in April

My colleague, Cllr Phil taylor asked a question on how many missed collections were reported to the council in April this year.

The answer is quiet shocking, more so because it only includes missed collections that were reported. I think it is safe to assume the true figure is a good 4-5 times higher.

QUESTION NO. 15

COUNCIL MEETING – 8th May 2012

QUESTION BY COUNCILLOR –Phil Taylor

UNDER COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE PROCEDURE RULE 10(1)

TO - CABINET MEMBER FOR –  Transport and Environment

QUESTION

How many missed collections were reported to the council in the month of April?  How many were reported in April 2011? 

ANSWER


April 2012

8094 missed collection reports for domestic refuse and recycling. 

April 2011

900 missed collection reports for domestic refuse and recycling

It is hard to believe that the leader of the council said only two weeks ago that residents need to get things into perspective.

Leader of the council, What a man!!!

At the emergency council meeting held a couple of weeks ago to debate the rubbish fiasco that is the councils rubbish and recyclables service, the Labour leader of the council, in response to a question asking him what he did to fix the problem, Cllr Bell told us that he was out there all the time on his bike reporting missed collections.

This week he tells us that if Empire Cinemas, don't soon start building the cinema across the road from the Town hall, he will build it brick by brick himself. See here

I knew he was a trained economist, but had no idea he was a bricklayer. What a man!!!

Whose fault was that then?

Cllr Justin Anderson asked the following written question at the emergency council held earlier in the month.

I'm afraid it confirms what I said in a previous posting that the council saw this rubbish fiasco coming and did nothing. See here.

Question

What date was the council first aware of the need to use temporary vehicles for the beginning of the new service? Can the portfolio holder confirm the number of temporary vehicles used on the first week of the new contract compared to the number used in the last week under the previous contract?

Answer

The council was aware of the need to use 13 temporary recycling vehicles in November 2011. A percentage of temporary hire vehicles is standard in steady state.

The number used in the last week of the old contract is not available and the council would not normally have this information unless specifically required. These temporary vehicles do not refer to those that were later introduced to catch up with the recycling collections.

So, two things here. The council knew that there would be a problem last November, namely that the recycling would be mixed by the contractor at the kerbside.

They chose not to tell anyone. The second point is that it turned out that the temporary vehicles were not enough to get the job done so the contractor had to get more in.

Why did the council not spot this. They had 5 months to say something and didn't. Whose fault is that then. Expect Labour to point the finger elsewhere.

They want the taxpayer to take the strain

We keep hearing from the Labour party that the government is cutting too far too fast and that is why we are back in recession.

According to them, It apparently has nothing to do with the massive deficit that the last Labour government left us.

In 2010/11 government spending actually rose and the following year it fell by only 1.5%. All of that increase can be put down to increase in debt repayments and social benefits.

The fall in spending on public services we're told was the largest since 1955/56, see here. The deficit has fallen by a quarter, but that is no where near fast enough.

Most of that has been down to higher taxes than to cuts to what the Government is spending. At the moment the markets seem hapopy enough with the Governments deficit reduction plan as does the IMF.

The unions and Labour on the other hand seem to be unwilling for the public sector to face even cuts of 1.5%. they want the taxpayer to take all the strain.

Nothing new there then.

Ealing councils unconvincing response, UPDATED

Residents sent me a copy of an email response that he received from the recycling team in Ealing which they received after they expressed disatisfaction over the road sweeping and recycling.

I have included my own commentary in red alongside points made in the email.

Thank you for your enquiry, and please accept our sincere apologies for
the problems you have experienced with our refuse, recycling and street
cleansing service. Since Enterprise took over the contract in April
there have been a number of issues with collections and operations. 
This is unacceptable and the council is working closely with Enterprise
to ensure problems are resolved as quickly as possible and get the
service back to normal.
(here the council is again laying all the blame at the door of the new contractor)

  
We understand that these basic services are extremely important to get
right. Making Ealing(there is no mention of not having the right lorries here, 

and the date when

the service retutns to normal seems now to have been pushed back to July from june)

Any recycling collected in this manner is being sent to a Materials
Recycling Facility called Ideal Waste Paper in Swanley, Kent to be
sorted, and will be recycled.  Please continue to present recycling in
the usual containers, because some collections remain separate.

(so we should keep separating our recycling on the off chance it will not be mixed 

by the council)

 
Shoes, clothes, batteries and engine oil put out for recycling are
being collected and stored separately on the recycling vehicles and then
stored at Greenford Depot before being sent on for recycling.

(this point annoyed the residents who sent this to me as they saw their box with 

shoes in

it thrown into the back of the lorry with the rest of their recycling)

With regards to street cleansing, the street cleansing operations are
scheduled to follow refuse and recycling collections. Unfortunately we
have had some teething problems with the new contractor, which has meant
that this has not always been possible in a small number of areas.  
Where this has happened, Enterprise will send operatives back later to
clear spillage caused as a result of waste collection.

(what a waste, my road was swept twice a few weeks back and i keep getting 

emails from

residents who say the road either was swept too early or 3-4 days late) 
Enterprise and the council are very sorry for any inconvenience this
has caused.

(this is the closest you will get to an admission that the council are

cuclpable here too)

Not very convincing at all for a council that wanted to make the best better

UPDATE


After hearing from a neighbour who said that the guys collecting his recyclabels just threw the shoes he put out in his green box in with all the rest when the council told him they are keeping these items separately on the vehicles, I decided to put an old pair of shoes out to see what they would do with them.

Luckily I was home when the lorry came down my road. The lorry was followed by rubbish collectors who emptied green boxes and white canvass sacks into a wheelie bin and then tipped the wheelie bin into the lorry.

They didn't take out the shoes to keep them separately on the vehicle. If i had put batteries or oil in the green box, that too would have just been thrown in with the bottles, paper and plastics.

The council is not doing what they are telling residents they are doing.

What's worse, cash for questions or cash for votes?

We can all remember the cash for questions scandal in the early and mid 1990's. Two Conservative MP's were accused of taking cash in return for tabling questions in the commons on behalf of Al fayed, the then owner of Harrods. See here.

Well now we hear that the Labour Shadow Cabinet in Westminster, consult with the GMB, who have given them over £1.5m since Ed Miliband became leader of the Labour party, before deciding how to vote in Parliament.

See here. What's worse, an individual MP taking cash for asking a question in the house of commons or a political party taking cash for voting a particular way in the commons on legislation that affects the rest of us.