Publicity plan to clear the way for street sweeping
ROSSENDALE councillors have called for better publicity for households about street sweeping, so residents’ cars can be moved, and discussed how best to tackle fly-tipping on unadopted lanes.
One councillor urged council officers to physically walk along back streets to see where fly-tipping is worst.
But he was told officers had limited time for visits and instead focused on prosecutions and fines.
The exchanges came during an update to the borough’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee.
Director of communities Adam Allen said top waste and recycling priorities include recruiting more bin lorry drivers and cutting the number of missed or late collections for households and businesses.
Overview committee chairwoman Coun Janice Johnson suggested dates and location names for street sweeping, officially called ‘street cleansing,’ should be added to leaflets and other information for households, so people could move their cars and the streets be fully cleaned.
Coun Granville Morris said: “I’ve recently had more complaints about road sweeping.
“One was concerning cars parked on Grane Road. Parked cars are making it difficult to clean the road 100 per cent.
“Why don’t we have a diary set-up to indicate what roads will be swept on what day? An asterisk or something could be added to the bin collection day leaflets? In general, if people know their road is going to be swept then they will move their vehicles. If they don’t then they will know that the area around their car will be unswept.”
Council officer Claire Law said once dates were known the information would be put on social media and households would spread the word. She added waste crews do try to go back to locations later.
Mr Allen said new waste crew rotas and cycles are currently being tested. The council wanted to be happy with these changes before putting out publicity.
Coun Ann Kenyon said: “I also get complaints about cars parked on streets and the bin lorries cannot get down. Some people think it’s their right to park and sod everybody else. That’s why roads don’t get swept or bins collected.”
Coun Morris then spoke about fly-tipping. He said: “There are two hotspots in Bacup and another in Haslingden. I rang council officers but was told they only have finite resources to do checks. Fly-tipping can be a problem on unadopted service roads behind terraces. Another problem is getting a response.
“It’s about getting people out of offices to look. I can do it once a fortnight for an hour. All I’m asking is for people to do what I do. I’m not talking about my ward – I’m talking about other wards.”
However Mr Allen replied: “We have got three enforcement staff and it’s not possible for them to walk around the borough. They have to put together legal cases. Fines are the real prevention. We rely on people to report fly-tipping. I have been out with crews to grot-spots.”