Category: Concerns and complaints (Page 2 of 3)

At the Pollokshields Area Committee, on which Kevin Kane and I take turns to represent the Strathbungo Society, litter and rubbish are regularly discussed. There has been a real push by councillors and other committee members to make improvements in the local area, both by reducing the amount of litter being dropped and improving services. As a result of these discussions, a number of suggestions have been made for litter bins, including one from us – supported by Councillors – for a litter bin on the Darnley Rd side of the pedestrian footbridge over the railway. This was installed a couple of weeks ago and we hope it will reduce the amount of rubbish thrown onto the railway embankment. If there are any other places you think would benefit from a bin do let us know.

We have also been in dialogue with Land and Environment Services about how we could improve the bulk collection service. At present it can take three weeks for such rubbish to be collected by which time the weather, vandalism etc can have scattered the rubbish all over the back lanes. After a suggestion made at one of the Strathbungo meetings we asked whether it would not be better for the Council to collect on a fixed day each month, so that people would not have to put out rubbish without knowing when it would be picked up. The Council actually operates such a system with a number of housing associations but has fixed pick up points. The local officials, who have been very helpful, have said that if we could agree fixed pick up points they would make recommendations to senior managers to try this out (the position is complicated because the current system has been decided by the Council as a whole and local areas do not have the discretion to adopt alternative systems).

After discussion at the Committee meeting this week, it was felt the problem with fixed pick-up points is first there is no vacant public space, so it would mean people volunteering to use their property in the back lanes for this purpose )(which we thought would be hard to obtain, and second that some bulk pieces of rubbish would be hard to carry to pick-up points. We therefore agreed to go back to the Council and ask them to look at other alternatives, including whether it would be possible to have a fixed pick up day each month but instead of the Council trawling all the lanes, they would just pick up from places notified to them by residents beforehand. Under such a system, if the pick up day was the last day of the month and you had bulk rubbish, you could put it out the day before and ring the council with details of where to pick up the rubbish.

Whether the Council will be open to trying this out we are not sure but meantime if you have any views or other ideas on how to reduce the amount of litter please let us know by commenting on this.

You may have noticed the increased presence, and persistence, of the bin rakers of late. In my case, I am fed up of rebagging my rubbish every fortnight before the binmen come, especially when it gets ripped open again during the night. However things reached a nadir last week when I left an electrical cable running out under my garage door for the use of a builder working in the back lane. The rakers cut the cable at both ends and made off with 20m of electrical cable, value probably little more than 50p. In doing so they pulled as much cable under the door as they could, ripping the electrical socket off the wall and leaving mains cabling dangling dangerously in my garage, and cost the builder £20 – it was his cable.

It is time to fight back, albeit legally. I have spoken to the police at Gorbals Police Station (in particular PC Ali Martin) who are aware of the problem, and are keen to identify the culprits. While they are planning plain clothes patrols in the lanes in the next few weeks, we can also help. We need to do more than just move them along, and if you do not wish to intervene, call the police on 101 (the new non emergency number, not 999) immediately. If they have someone free they will come round and try to catch them in the act.

If you feel more proactive, the issue is one of identification; this is best achieved by two collaborating witnesses, and photographic evidence to identify the individual. I almost got a photo of the protagonists last week and regret not doing so. While I have sympathy for those less fortunate than ourselves, it stops when they begin causing criminal damage, and this needs to be nipped in the bud. Happy snapping, but of course, no taking the law into your own hands. It just isn’t the Bungo way.

The issue of traffic was discussed at the last Strathbungo Society committee meeting and it was suggested that I put up a survey on the blog to gauge residents’ feelings about the issue.

There are a number of options we can pursue each of which will likely take a while to get agreement on let alone push through. The Traffic Road Order which the Society has been chasing for a couple of years only now has been approved and work is scheduled to begin in May 2011.

You should also know that arrangements have been made to carry out a condition monitoring survey of several roads within the Strathbungo area, including Moray Place, Marywood Square, Queen Square and Regent Park Square, in order that it may be presented for inclusion in a future carriageway resurfacing. This programme however will be subject to funding.

It is worth considering each of the options a little before expressing a preference. 20’s plenty for instance is not legally binding and involves additional signage which will further clutter the roads. Road resurfacing will give us nice smooth roads, but will likely involve more people speeding through the Squares. (One benefit of having lots of potholes is that people are forced to drive slowly). Traffic calming measures (aka road humps) will certainly slow the traffic, but we may lose parking slots and sharp braking by speeding drivers may itself cause a hazard. Widening pavements will have to eat in either to people’s gardens or the road. Cutting back overgrown hedges that intrude onto the pavement will have the same effect however.

Anyway, give it a shot and let us know what you think. Click here to take survey Don’t however expect changes overnight. These things do take a while and will need a champion to drive them through the council including canvassing residents more formally for their views.

I’ll certainly update you regularly on any progress made and of the outcome of the condition monitoring survey and what the Council plans to do about the roads here.