Update on street-related issues within MEOTRA

Thanks to everyone who fed back about litter/street issues in our neighbourhood following last month’s article - around 20 issues at least.

We have had a meeting with the council officers last week which has moved some of the issues along a bit:

Onyx House Eurobins

The four 1500-litre Eurobins (two pink and two black) that have been living in Aberavon Road are still there. We have a bit of a standoff: Onyx House have no one to “present them” [ie put them out], and the council bin men won’t go in and get them as the wooden bin stores are congested, have hinges hanging off and are deemed a Health and Safety Hazard.

MEotra [emphasis on the ME] have looked at the planning application and, low and behold, the bin stores don’t match the granted planning permission. There are two rows of them opposite one another and this means the bins are a nightmare to get in/out. The planning application just had one row, with plenty of space, although being side on that wouldn't have worked well either! LBTH are going to get planning enforcement onto it.

Street Litter and Full Litter Bins

The council are going to replace lots of our street litter bins with “Big Belly" ones which compact the litter, hold around 8 times as much and even text the council automatically when they are getting full.

Around 9-12 of these are going to be installed (including the four lower Grove Road bus stops; outside Costa, Starbucks, Nando's and KFC; two between the Greedy Cow and Coffee Room; and the Onyx House bus stop). This should happen within a couple of months.

Eurobins for the businesses on Grove Road

The council seem to have as many reasons for not doing this as I have for not getting up in the morning. Something to return to post local-elections (the bins that is).
The good news is the council have come and jet washed the pavement outside all the businesses and it looks much better. Cheers!

Get LYN on to it

I have reported some of the issues folk emailed in, using the LYN App (Love Your Neighbourhood) which is on both Android, iPhone. You can also just use a “regular” online form. It would be great if folk used this to report problems.

The Last Resort - Shame the council on Twitter

If you are reading this on the Meotra website then if you look to the left (<--) you’ll see we’ve tried to shame the council into action on some things. I don’t like this approach, and only use it if a stalemate/brick wall has been reached:

• The crudely fenced-off hole in the pavement on the corner of Mile End Rd and Tredegar Sq. has been there for months. LBTH say “It ain’t ours, tell TfL” and, you guessed it, TfL say: “It ain’t ours, tell LBTH”. This game of Wiff-Waff between authorities has left MEotra with a sore neck.
• The Black Bin Bags in Pink Wheelie Bins phenomena - Pink Bin Men come and won’t empty the bins with black bags in them; then Black Bin Men come and won’t take the black bags out of the pink wheelie bins. This has gone on for weeks on Grove road. It is the sort of thing Michael Rosen might put to verse.

Anti-social Behaviour (ASB)

The police were in Tredegar Square today (Wednesday) for an hour to chat to residents and discourage any anti-social behaviour. They sent a message about being there very late in the day unfortunately (Tuesday?) and it was buried in the MEotra inbox.

Please Feedback: Litter/Street Cleanliness Concerns

 

Every Litter Helps?

MEOTRA have a meeting with the council on Wednesday morning about various street cleaning issues in the area:

• NOX cannisters in Tredegar Square
• No recycling bin bags distributed for ages
• Street bins overflowing, moving over to "big-belly" bins in problem areas
• Ongoing issues with Onyz House Eurobins not being put back and often left in the road
• Issues reported via the LYN app (on Android or iPhone) being "closed" without the problems resolved (e.g the orange barriers have been around a hole on Mile End Road for months)
• Siting Eurobins on Grove Road at the southern end where all the shops are

Please let us know if there are any "street" issues you'd like us to add to the list and we'll pass them on.

👍

No Laughing Matter

No Laughing Matter is the name of a campaign by Tower Hamlets Council, Tower Hamlets Police and Tower Hamlets Homes to help tackle some of the problems caused by nitrous oxide.

It follows complaints from residents that antisocial behaviour linked to the taking of nitrous oxide, otherwise known as laughing gas, has become a significant concern within the borough.

Residents say that it can be intimidating to see groups of people taking it, causes noise nuisance and it is also a litter problem because small metal canisters containing it are often left discarded. The police have also received reports of people taking it while behind the wheel of a car. Indeed the Love Wapping website has documented several car crashes where the use of nitrous oxide has been implicated.

The issues and actions are detailed in this leaflet.

What you can do to help:

Illegal Sale: The council’s Trading Standards Team are working with the police to tackle retail outlets that sell gas to people who misuse it. You can report an outlet to the Trading Standard team by emailing tradingstandards@towerhamlets.gov.uk

Littering: If canisters are in streets or parks please use the Fix My Street app/website as this will help MEOTRA see hotspots and nudge the powers that be to target these. Alternatively you can report them to the council’s street cleaning team on 020 7364 5004. 

As part of the campaign, the partners will also be educating people about what the substance is and the risks to health; and talking to school children about the dangers of nitrous oxide