Tower Hamlets Council: 20 days to clear waste management problem!

This post details the sequence of events and the poor response MERA got from Tower Hamlets Council the first time we reported the problem with waste management outside Ennerdale House  'in the normal way'.

Action was only taken after we "took it to the top".

The problem with the waste refuse management caused by EastendHomes and Telford Homes was first reported by MERA to FixMyStreet on 31st October 2010.

Note that the problem started through action taken by Telford Homes on Friday 29th October 2010.

The MERA Chair reported this to FixMyStreet on 31st October.  This is sent to the Council straight away and also provides documentation

Access to recycle bins and general waste bins denied by developers
Reported in the Rubbish (refuse and recycling) category by Mile End Residents at 22:16, Sunday 31 October 2010
Sent to Tower Hamlets Borough Council 4 minutes later
On Friday 29th acess to the usual recycle & general waste eare was cut off by Eastendhomes contractors (see - http://mile-end-residents.co.uk/?p=1365) A single recycle bin was made available after a comment from a resident - this is now full with assorted refuse (19.00)

There was no response from the out of hours contact centre at Tower Hamlets Council.

The problem was reported again by MERA to FixMyStreet on the morning of Monday 1st November.  

Incompetent site management by Eastendhomes contractors resulting in H&S issues

Reported in the Flytipping category by Mile End Residents at 09:50, Monday 1 November 2010
Sent to Tower Hamlets Borough Council 5 minutes later

Ongoing Problem - On Friday 29th acess to the usual recycle & general waste eare was cut off by Eastendhomes contractors (see - http://mile-end-residents.co.uk/?p=1365) and previous report - a single recycle bin was placed in front of block after resident complained. Today. Monday 1st Nov, two more recycle bins have been dragged to the front of Ennerdale Hse. Still no provision for large bags of general waste.

An officer responded to the first report later on 1st November.

Date: Monday, 1 November, 2010, 15:17

Dear Sir or Madame,

Thank you for contacting us.  I have reported this on-going contamination issue to our Waste Management Office to look into this and respond to your query.  Reference number 1-TT8DN

Kind Regards,

Please help us to improve our services by completing our short survey - just click this link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/emailSatisfactionSurvey

Farid Miah
Team Leader
Tower Hamlets Contact Centre.

No apprproiate action taken by Tower Hamlets ie two extra recycling bins provided.  No response to the need to for containers for ordinary domestic refuse (ie large kitchen waste bin bags) and bulk refuse requirements.

So the problem was reported again - Mark Taylor, the Chair of MERA followed up on the lack of response by Tower Hamlets Council on 3rd November by replying to the email from the Contact Centre. 

Dear Farid Miah

re  Reference number 1-TT8DN

Thank you for you interest in our situation.

This situation has not yet changed apart from the addition of two more recycle bins at the front of our block (Ennerdale House) which of course, due to the lack access to the general waste skip to the rear of the building, are being used for all waste and therefore are "contaminated" and as recycle bins useless.

An email was sent to Andrew Osborne (Project Manager for EastendHomes) midday yesterday to which we have received no response or seen any action on the ground to remedy the situation. We are in the early days of a regeneration project on our estates and it seems EastendHomes, the RSL and developers, are unable to ensure that residents health and safety, amenity and our environment are protected despite the approved construction management plan in operation on the estates.

Regards
Mark Taylor
Chair - Mile End Residents Association (MERA)

There was no response from Tower Hamlets Council until this week - following a detailed email to the Customer Services on 13th November.

Dear Richard, Okey and other Tower Hamlets Customer Service Officers

The problems caused by the regeneration project at Eric & Treby Estate continue to multiply

This time it's a major problem relating to waste collection at Ennerdale House, E3 - generated by the prevention of access to the skip at the rear of Ennerdale House (Southern Grove side) for use in disposing of ordinary domestic (ie non-recycling rubbish) and large items which do not fit down the refuse chute. 

This post sets out the problem Ennerdale Rufuse Mess due to Telford Homes & EastendHomes which contains a number of images illustrating the nature of the problem.  We will be photographing again at the end of the weekend to illustrate how bad the problem is.

Please note the lack of planning or recognition of any problem by EastendHomes and the Mile End Estate Management Board!
Can we also please have:

• the name and email address of the Head of Waste Management services for Tower Hamlets
• the name of the primary contact at Veolia re collection of refuse from Ennerdale House
• the name and email address of the Head of the Tower Hamlets Considerate Contractor Scheme

Please also note that we are also reporting this problem separately to

• the Ward Councillors
• the Health and Safety Executive (Construction) London Office next week.

--
Mile End Residents Association
MERA - website | MERA - blog | MERA on Twitter | MERA on Flickr

This got a prompt response - on the same day - but provided what now appears to be out of date information about who exactly is the Head of Waste Management.  Have emails been going into a black hole?

Thank you for your email regarding the domestic collections at Ennerdale House.  Please be advised that this has been passed unto our Waste Management Section, so that they can look into the matter and advise you of the contacts for Veolia and Considerate Contractor Scheme.  I can however provide you with the details for the Head of Waste Management which is Fiona Heyland and her email address is Fiona.Heyland@towerhamlets.gov.uk.

I therefore, trust that the above information is of use to you.

Ruth Eugene
Team Leader
Tower Hamlets Contact Centre

Finally on 17th November 2010 we started to get some evidence - from Beth Hodge - that somebody was dealing with the actual waste management problem.  

This means from start to finish it took 20 days for Tower Hamlets to take effective action.

Our conclusion?  

In future we will be detailing waste management problems direct to Beth Hodge, Interim Waste and Recycling Contracts Manager, because it is only after she was contacted that this problem started to be resolved.

MERA will also be making a formal complaint which asks why it took 20 days to get this problem fixed given that 

• this is a health and safety matter and 
• the standard response times in the waste manement contracts are much, much shorter than 20 days.

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