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It was Environmental and Ecology Forum at the City Council this evening. So to prepare for the item on recycling centres in the city and grounds maintenance, we went around the estate with a camera on the principle that "a picture is worth 1,000 words"!
So, our recycling centre on the estate that has not been cleared up for weeks by the contractor, Gloucester City Services, and which boasts an overflowing "can bank" that has been full for three whole weeks was duly photographed.
The "contract" between the City Council and Gloucester City Services calls for each site to be visited daily and any clearing up undertaken. Also, if this visit is done, then no "bank" will ever get full to the point of overflowing!
Alas, Gloucester City Services does not see it that way! They forget that the word "service" is included in their title! They also appear to forget who they serve, which is the people of Gloucester, who foot the bills through Council Tax.
Anyway, now that we have access to a scanner, this is how we see our recycling centre, which is located in Sherborne Street.
|
To
the left is the area between the clear glass bank
and the paper bank. To us, there is considerable debris that should have been cleared. But the people from Gloucester City Services who visited (and surely they must have visited daily as it is in the "contract" must have missed all the lose rubbish and black plastic bags that have been their for over 14 days! Incidentaly, these photographs were taken just before 12 noon today. When we left for the meeting, the area had still not been cleared, despite - we understand from a councillor - a somewhat "heated" meeting earlier today between council officers and the "big wigs" of Gloucester City Services when our site was specifically mentioned! Suprisingly, nothing was done during the afternoon! |
Our recycling site is not the only one that has problems. The Citizen has recently highlighted the site at Hucclecote on two separate occasions! And there are other site in Gloucester where there is a problem.
The site in Hare Lane - virtually in the city centre - was terrible when we passed this afternoon. The paper bank was overflowing, so people were leaving their newspapers at the side, with the result that the wind was blowing paper all around.
We made the point in the meeting that many people will recycle waste, but having full bins and untidy recycling centres will only make many people question: "What's the point?"
Below is a picture - again taken at "high noon" in Sherborne Street - of our overflowing can bank. This "bank" has been full for over two weeks and has been reported as being full to the long-suffering council officers on numerous occasion over the past 14 days!
Council officers did give the Forum the usual answer that they were "taking up the matter with the contractor"! We replied that we wewre tired of hearing this and that something should be done - we even went as far as to suggest that sanctions should be taken against Gloucester City Services.
After the meeting, Councillor Bernie O'Neil (the deputy Leader of the Council), who has taken a keen interest in the workings of the Forum for more years that most other Forum members, took copies of the photographs. He said that the situation was causing considerable corcern to the Council.
There is something that tells us that something will be done and that Councillor O'Neil will will be, as the Americans say, "kicking butt"!
We also highlighted the sad state of affairs with the Stagecoach bus service between Gloucester and Cheltenham during the evenings when the half-hourly frequency is often cut down to hourly after 7 pm. Even the Director of Development was able to confirm that the frequency of the route left a lot to be desired, but during the "every 10 minutes" daytime service.
The point was made! Hopefully someone at Stagecoach will take note ...
Unfortunately, the new door entry system that was "completed" at the beginning of April came into the spotlight today, again.
To say the the TCC is less than happy would be somewhat of an understatement! Our eyes were opened even wider when we undertook the task of making-up some new master keys to every block on Saturday.
We took some independent advice today. The verdict was that the installation is not "safe". How "not safe" is not known, we are but mere tenants who understand little about the techicalities of electronic door entry systems! But when some covers are simply not on some of the boxes and there are wires poking out, we suspect that there might just be a "problem".
All the wiring and boxes are contained behind a locked door, so it seems fairly obvious that we are not talking vandalism here!
So what is the truth? Has the contractor who was responsible for the installation actually delivered what he was supposed to for the £75,000 (or thereabouts). Does everything come up to specification?
We do know that the contractor has not formally "handed over" the system to the housing management contractor, Gloucester Housing Services. So at least the final payment has not been made from tenants rents. In addition, the 12 month "guarantee" period has not started.
But our concern was such that we spoke to the Director of Community Services who promised he would try to get to the bottom of the matter.
We showed the "horror" pictures of the weeds on the estate to Louise Beard. She was agahast as the order for the spraying was made in April and the work was said to have already been done. But the colour photographs show some very "green" and thriving weeds that are over 12 inches tall!
Hopefully, pictorial proof will be in tomorrow's diary!
The weekend brought more than the usual amount of litter, which Tony (our caretaker) picked up! Most of the litter is left in the area of 1-14 Columbia Close, when the teenagers congregate.
In addition to leaving litter around the place, they also leave messages for their friends - felt tip pens on the painwork!
Tony is unable to remove the graffiti because all his special graffiti-removing liquid is gone and the order placed weeks ago for more has not arrived! Can't blame Tony or the council for that - we know the order was placed in good time!
We can say that normally graffiti is removed within a day. But there are times when we think that Tony is fighting a losing battle! But we must never give in to the young so-and-sos!