Had a very good meeting with two lovely, and very sensible officers from HH. If only we'd done this in the first place! What they call 'fly-tipping' is different from our interpretation, and basically is occasional junk which if seen we, or our neighbour who uses the access frequently, will dispose of ourselves. Several people do have stuff that is put aside which HH would like moved and I personally would write to the people concerned and tell them it should be moved/cleared as it is a potential hazard if someone who shouldn't be down here decided to set light to it - understandable. This is the sort of thing that has been causing concern apparently. It also seems that the original report that went to this Central Area Housing Forum in March was incorrect which they did realise and apologise for, has now been re-presented and makes sense, we are now having a consultation about the gate as previously it was confined to a couple of HH tenants. This will take into account all users in the three roads the road services. I did make the point that the real fly-tip area was outside the Furniture Project, that is frequently blighted with mattresses, beds, sundry furniture even a bath with all the fittings recently! To be fair when I report it - it is cleared very quickly but I don't think there's any doubt that the imposition of quite high charges to clear stuff, and the fact that vans etc. are charged at the tip contributes to this increase in real problems with dumping. A false economy if ever there was one, and one perhaps that councillors might take a look at. Surely making charges for a clearance service far more reasonable so that people will use it is far, far cheaper than constantly having to clear stuff dumped all over the borough? And also some prosecutions for those that get caught - because there simply is no excuse for doing it. We all pay in the end. Anyway I am most grateful to both these officers for their time - we all agreed that in the end it's all about good communication.
Vanessa Smith ● 4528d