Agenda item

Residents have raised a number of concerns with local Councillors about people leaving bins on streets. The City Warden Manager will be attendance to discuss any concerns which residents may have.

Barbara Whitcombe, City Warden Manager introduced this item. She informed the meeting that the City Wardens would be undertaking an exercise to work with residents to reduce the number of bins left on streets. She asked people to nominate streets which had particular problems which could be looked into first.

Residents raised points on a number of issues.

General Waste / Local Environmental Issues

A local resident raised a number of points with regard to waste / environmental issues in general as follows:-

- He felt the area was becoming a ‘student ghetto’ and there were problems with absentee landlords.

- There were problems on all streets with bins on streets, recycling boxes on streets, and a lack of appropriate maintenance of houses.

- With regard to fines for bins on streets, he felt that these would be ineffective as the population was highly transient.

- He felt that publicity campaigns were largely ignored.

- Incentives should be considered to encourage responsible behaviour.

- Additional refuse collectors should be employed to place bins back in alleyways and onto property frontages.

- Recycling boxes were ugly and big and added to the problems of untidy streets, canvas bags should be used.

- Student landlords should face greater regulation.

Barbara Whitcombe in response explained that the Council did work with the universities to create a register of student landlords who met certain criteria. Students were encouraged to use these landlords. Environmental Health Officers and Planning Enforcement Officers could also deal with individual problems as they arose. She also suggested that bins and recycling boxes strewn on the street could be reported to the City Warden who would look into the matter.

The resident felt that these measures were not sufficient to deal with the problems in Clarendon Park.

Councillor Kitterick commented that legislation was being introduced which required much tighter regulation, such as planning permission on houses which contained more than three unrelated people. This wouldn’t however be retrospective and apply to houses which were already let to more than three persons.

Waste Collection

A resident commented that an issue was raised at a previous meeting with regard to the street sweepers who swept the just before the bins and recycling boxes were emptied. It was felt that it would make sense for the sweepers to go round after the bin collection to remove any detritus left over from that process. Barbara Whitcombe agreed to look into this.

Bin Project

City Warden, Craig Bodsworth explained the process being undertaken with the bin project.

- A letter would be delivered to all houses in the street outlining the plan to remove bins from streets and giving advice on options.

- This will be every terraced street in Clarendon Park from Victoria Park Road to Greenhill Road.

- Patrols would then be undertaken and calling cards would be delivered and residents spoken to where the bin was still on the street.

- If this didn’t work and there was still a problem, the names of the residents would be obtained and a letter would be written to the house.

- If there were still problems following this, a formal notice would be issued.

- If there was still no compliance, then all the adults in the house would receive a fine.

- Craig commented that this scheme had worked well in Jarrom Street / Burnmoor Street.

A resident queried whether this would be a one off project or would it still be in place to tackle the problems when students leave in the summer? Barbara Whitcombe said that officers did attend freshers fairs and delivered leaflets before students left advising them of the bulky waste collection service. It was intended to be an ongoing project, which would be possible due to the recruitment of more City Wardens.

A resident commented that the process seemed to take too long and was too polite. He also felt that the Jarrom Street area still had problems with rubbish on the streets. Craig commented that there definitely had been an improvement in that area. Further he stated that the process was a legal requirement. Councillor Kitterick supported this point, noting that there could be unfavourable media interest if the correct procedure wasn’t followed.

Wellington Street

A resident noted that there was a particular problem on Wellington Street in the city centre with the large commercial bins being left on the street and taking up most of the pavement. It was requested that this be looked into.

Absent Landlords / Foreign Students

It was felt that foreign students were unaware of their responsibilities. Barbara Whitcombe explained that translators were used where there were language difficulties.

It was also queried whether landlords were chased for unpaid Council Tax? Barbara said that this did happen, but it was often difficult to track landlords down. They would often not even live in this country. A resident suggested using the land registry or lettings agents.

University of Leicester - Community Warden

Edmund Hockley, the University of Leicester Community Warden introduced himself to the meeting. He explained his role which could help cover the following areas:-

- Providing assistance to students living in poor accommodation, how to tackle landlords. There had been no complaints against landlords who were registered.

- Bins - he was keen to assist in educating students of their responsibilities. He was looking into getting this information on the front page of the student website. Posters were also being displayed around the campus.

- He offered to let people contact him about student properties which were causing a problem. Disciplinary action could be taken against the students which could lead to them not graduating.

- With regard to foreign students, he noted that all course were taught in English and translation shouldn't be an issue.

The Chair felt that it would be useful for Edmund to come and speak to the meeting on a more detailed basis at a future meeting.

Neighbours

A resident addressed the meeting, commenting that he took the time to get to know his neighbours. As a result they all looked out for each other and moved bins back into alleyways once they'd been emptied. He felt that this worked well and could be done by everyone.