Friday, 15 August 2014

We're Talking Rubbish - Subway's Rubbish

Subway shop logo
Subway on the corner of Grove and Mile End Roads causes quite a lot of litter particularly in Grove, Aberavon, Rhondda and [the west end of] Morgan Roads. I have written to the franchisee Ajmal Khan about it:
Dear Sir/Madam,

Since your store has opened the amount of litter in Grove and Aberavon roads has increased significantly. Whilst we are grateful that you have signage asking your customers to dispose of their litter responsibly, we would like to encourage you to go further and ask your staff to routinely litter pick from around the vicinity of your shop. We are able to provide you with free litter grabs if this helps. The litter (which is clearly marked with the Subway branding) is particularly bad towards the middle to top end of Aberavon Road. 
I look forward to hearing from you.
John White
LBTH Recycling Champion

Mile End Old Town Residents' Association

I received the following reply:
John thank you for bringing this to our attention and yes we do very much try to promote our customers to use bins provided. It is unfortunate that people seem to find it acceptable to litter and ruin the streets bringing down standards and making it less pleasant for future generations. We do try and litter pick around the shop and we will make more of an effort to promote using bins. It is good to see yourselves providing free grabs and we would appreciate any help towards solving this issue. As I am sure you are also aware that Subway is a franchise so every franchisee pays his/her own costs and we are burdened with many of them with the main one being rising labour costs and the government forcing ever rising minimum wage which makes it hard to have a designated litter picker due to increased costs. Thank you again for bringing this to our attention and if you visit the store with the litter grabs one of my staff will take them from you. Thanks
Kind regards
Ajmal Khan (Franchisee)

I have now dropped off a couple of litter pickers (supplied free of charge via Mayor Johnson and the GLA who happen to set the London Living Wage at £8.80 vs the minimum wage of £6.30).

Thanks to Cllr Josh Peck who also contacted the Head of the LBTH's Clean and Green team about this following complaints from MEOTRA.

Let's see if we notice a difference.

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Planning Alert: Starbucks Coming to Mile End

A Starbucks is Born (Mile End Mix)

Soon, as you exit Mile End tube, you may find yourself getting a caffeine hit from all the coffee in the air as Starbucks is opening under the Green Bridge opposite Costa.

Whilst the shop is a "done deal", changes to the design of the shopfront require formal advertising consent and you might want to comment on them.

Personally, I think it is a pity that Mile End Road is filling up with mundane chain coffee shops and supermarkets, and would have preferred an independent business such as an italian restaurant to augment the fairly limited range of decent dining places we already have. Nonetheless, the (presumably significant) rent will provide useful income to the King George's Field Charity Board who administer Mile End Park.


Tuesday, 12 August 2014

LOCAL PLANNING ALERTS

A map of Mile End and Bow showing current planning applications

AUTOMATIC PLANNING ALERTS

Do you want to be sent local planning alerts automatically via email? I find the PLANNING FINDER website great for this and get an email from them once a week with clickable entries. It only takes a minute to register.

You never know you might see your own planning application!