Why fly tipping on Eric & Treby is unhealthy and hazardous

MERA is very hot on reporting fly tipping in the Mile End area and in particular on the Eric and Treby Estate (which includes Bow Trinity) where it gets very bad at times.  

We report dumped rubbish by using the website FixMyStreet.  We've found that this tends to produce the fastest and most effective response by the waste collection contractors employed by Tower Hamlets Council.  That could be because the response is monitored on a website which is accessible to all and where the complaint gets updated as to whether or not it's been fixed - for all to see!

Primary problems relating to fly tipping on or near the Eric and Treby Estate are:

• FIRE - dumped and flammable rubbish becomes a magnet for those "little boys" who like to play with matches.  It can potentially cause a very real hazard to people's homes
• RATS - rats and other animals congregate around rubbish which includes dumped food left out in bags

Yesterday we had an example outside Windermere House of why fly tipping is so dangerous if not reported and addressed very promptly.

Large amount of rubbish dumped at the entrance of Windermere House on an EastendHomes Estate in E3.
Yesterday evening Friday) firemen were called to extinguish fire here.

FixMyStreet - Reported in the Refuse collection category by Mile End Residents at 12:07, Saturday 8 October 2011

Prior to this last week we saw some very poor practice in relation to commercial premises at the top end of Eric Street which had every prospect of attracting rats to an area which is adjacent to residential properties and an old people's residential care home.

Pile of dumped rubbish rotting in the sun at 568a Eric Street - between the BT exchange and the betting shop.

Fix My Street - Reported in the Dumped rubbish category by Mile End Residents at 16:58, Monday 3 October 2011

This was fixed by Tuesday morning.

More reports about dumped rubbish and overflowing bins

Other reports on Fix My Street relating to rubbish and reported by MERA include the following.  Note that they have all been fixed!

• Fly tipping Eric Street - Mile End 12:07, 8 Oct 2011
• Refuse at Burdett Rd/Hamlets Way 10:01, 3 Oct 2011
• Yet more rubbish problems in E3 21:55, 29 Aug 2011
• Rubbish problem Treby/Eric Street E3 21:52, 29 Aug 2011
• Moer overflowing bins on Eric & Treby E3 21:48, 29 Aug 2011
• Rubbish Ennerdale House E3 15:48, 29 Aug 2011

If you'd like to try using FixMyStreet for yourself and would like some guidance get in touch with mERA (see side panel) and we'll show you how you can report dumped rubbish on the street online.  You need your own access to the Internet to do this.

It's a Bow Trinity problem too!

We invite Telford Homes and those trying to sell the new private accommodation in Bow Trinity to also help local residents address this problem - because otherwise Bow Trinity will become associated with rampant waste management problems in the area!  It all looks a bit different to their website!

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MERA gets noisy/dusty demolition stopped

Yesterday Mark Taylor, Chair of MERA contacted Tower Hamlets Environmental Health in connection with the very noisy and dusty demolition of the Walkway (Site 2b) next to Windermere House by Telford Homes's demolition contractor.

As a result the demolition site was yesterday shut down by Environmental Health.

Yet again the appalling standard of project managment by Telford Homes of this development - which ignores planning conditions and their own plans - has overstepped the mark - but our Mark is "on their case"!

This is what happened.  This is the content of the email which Mark sent yesterday

Demolition has started on the footpath/bridge at site 2B and is presently producing an excessive amount of dust which is being carried down the length of the bridge across our estate.

This work is ongoing at the moment - See video here taken at 13.00 on Thursday

The dust is rising up to the top floor walkway of the adjacent Windemere House where I know for sure (a resident with a serious medical condition lives). I spoke to his daughter today and she tells me that they received no warning from the developer this work was due to commence today.

This work is having an adverse impact on the air quality of the site and those living close by.  The planning conditions require the use of a hose/spray to damp down materials. There is a man with a low pressure hose vaguely pointing a hose in the general direction but as you will see from the video but this is clearly ineffective.

We look forward to a prompt response to this obvious disregard to the health and safety of local residents living on our estate as the developers clearly find it hard to grasp the fact that people live here and with just a little thought the regeneration/development process could be conducted with acceptable regard to residents health and safety.

This email is being copied to:-

• Richard Murrell (LBTH Planning case officer).
• Edward Hardy at the Considerate Contractor Scheme.
• Mile End East ward councillors who are members of EastendHomes Board
• Paul Hems at the HSE
• Bernie Cameron (Chair Mile End Estate Board)
• Andrew Osborne (EEH Project Manager)

This is the email which Mark and MERA received today.  We calculate that's two hours from video to shut down on site.

Dear Mark,

Following you email yesterday, I attended site 2B and stopped all works on site at about 15:00. I agreed with the contractor that no works should take place till the got more suppression mechanism on site. I believe that they have increased water suppression on site today..........

Okey

This is the demolition contractor who has committed numerous infringements of planning conditions in relation to health and safety - one of which has the potential to result in a criminal prosecution.......

We will be following up the behaviour of Telford Homes and their disregard for the health and safety of residents with both the Health and Safety Executive and the Considerate Contractor Scheme.

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Anti-social behaviour: Two important meetings next week

There are two important meetings this next week - both of which relate to anti-social behaviour in Mile End.

Broke Club - 27th July 2010

The meeting for local residents is on Tuesday 27th July at 7.30pm at the Broke Club, 562 Mile End Road E3 4PH

MERA representatives, the Quietnight Group and individuals from surrounding streets will be meeting the licence holder, Benn Wilson and a representative from the Tower Hamlets Licensing Department.

The purpose of the meeting is to monitor how matters are progressing in terms of the impact of the club's activities on local residents and compliance with the terms of the licence.

At the last meeting, issues on car parking and sound levels of the music were discussed but no major problems were brought up by any near-by residents.

However earlier this week we had reports from a large number of local residents that there is now regular parking of vehicles in Eric Street by people visiting Broke Club.  MERA representatives have now visited the area at night and seen this happening on a number of nights.  This includes cars parked in such a way around the Wentworth Mews area that they would have impeded the access of emergency vehicles in the event of a fire.

We understand that the same thing is happening in Aberavon Road.  Both these streets were the ones which suffered from a great deal of disturbance with the previous club and the type of clientele it attracted.

Broke Club are supposed to be monitoring the area surrounding the club but have either not picked up on the parking problem or have failed to address it effectively to date.

This weekend, there has also been an event which has caused some concern and disturbance.

All residents are welcome to attend the meeting.

Contact MERA if you need the hotline number to to report problems to the owner of the club and/or we can report problems on your behalf. See column on right for our contact details

Previous MERA Blog posts:

• Broke Club: Noise and more noise on opening weekend 02 June 2010
• Broke Club - Terms of the Licence 05 June 2010
• Planning permission for parking 100 cars? 15 June 2010
• Broke London Club - June Update 02 July 2010

Mile End East Safe Neighbourhood Team - 29th July 2010

The Mile End East Safe Neighbourhood Team are holding a Public Meeting on Thursday 29th July at the Community Centre in Merchant Street on the British Street Estate.  The meeting starts at 7pm.

At their public meetings the SNT ask you to tell them about the issues of crime and anti-social behaviour in your neighbourhood that matter to you.  Find out more on the Mile End East SNT website

They will tell you what they are doing to make your neighbourhood safer and how you can help to decide our local priorities.

Currently the Locally Agreed Priorities are as follows

• Anti Social Behaviour - Drugs
• Anti Social Behaviour by groups of youths
• Anti Social Behaviour by youths causing noise and nuisance

This is the update on actions taken to date

We have established a Dispersal Zone in Eric Street. This has given Police the power to disperse groups of youths engaged in anti- social behaviour.

MERA encourages local residents to attend to voice their unhappiness with the lack of support and the situation which has developed in the Kerrygold Garden (ie lack of dispersal of groups engaged in anti-social behaviour - see Top 10 Problems with the Kerrygold Garden) and other matters causing concern.

Previous MERA Blog posts:

• Mile End Dispersal Zone aims to reduce anti-social behaviour 07 June 2010
• Bow Road: Police fail to protect local residents' safety at crime scene 25 June 2010
• Top 10 Problems with the Kerrygold Garden 22 July 2010
  
• How to report anti-social behaviour 23 July 2010

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Top 10 Problems with the Kerrygold Garden

Open Space 3, which contains the Kerrygold Garden, has a large number of problems which are summarised below.

MERA started out at the beginning of this week talking with local residents who were very annoyed that the garden had been "closed" making it necessary for them to move The Big Lunch from the Recipe Street Garden to the strip of grass at the edge of Eric Street (see The Big Sunday Lunch moved).  Towards the end of the week, we're now very clear that there are a significant number of problems with this development.

We've listed them below.

1. Unlawful Development:  Before any of the development can start, the architects and developers acting on behalf of EastendHomes have to satisfy the planners about a number of different planning conditions.  This development went ahead despite the fact that these conditions had not been satisfied.  The site has therefore been closed because of its unlawful development in advance of the provision of information which is required to satisfy all the pre-commencement planning conditions.  

Breach of Condition 11 (Landscaping Strategy and Management Plan)
A site visit revealed that Open Space 3 has been completed, including landscaping, prior to this condition being formally discharged.
Planning Enforcement Letter

2. Not developed according to permitted design - Somebody somewhere missed the point.  You don't go to the trouble of seeking planning permission and get designs approved so that you can then go and do the development according to a completely different design.  Permission is for the design specified in the drawing submitted with the planning application and that's all.  If you want to do something different you have to submit a revised design and get formal approval - which also requires formal consultation with local residents.
3. No formal consultation on the revised design - There's no problem about revising a design so long as you give ALL the relevant people the opportunity to comment on it.  Consultation is NOT the Project Manager asking a few people whether they agree the development should go ahead.  Formal consultation is done by the Council's Planning Department who have to ensure that everybody who needs to know has been informed. This did not happen.  Read the repurcussions in the next post.
4. MAJOR loss of amenity - due to excessive noise at night.  This week MERA has had to write to Planning to advise them about a major complaint by local residents.  The open space is now being used all night long by young men who are congregating there in groups and making a significant noise.  Residents are now finding it very difficult to sleep at night.  Residents are also very disappointed that the Safe Neighbourhood Team have done absolutely nothing to address this issue despite the fact that a Dispersal Zone is in place which includes this garden.  Recently residents chose to spend money allocated to the area for improvement - on removing the brick walls which the men used to sit on.  These were replaced with fences so the young men have moved to the tables and chairs in the garden.  The Crime Prevention Officer is very clear there should be nowhere for young men to sit.  Residents will be making representations on this issue to the Safe Neighbourhood Team at its meeting next week.  The point is the design should be designing out activities with a negative impact on local amenity rather than increasing problems for residents!!!
5. Significant loss of green open space - A very significant amount of green open space for the children to play on has been lost because the car parking area is now a lot bigger than the permitted area.  Yet again we appear to have developers who make it up as they go along. If you compare area of parking on the plan to the area of parking in reality, you'll see very quickly that the space allocated to parking has grown very significantly.  It should be about 25% of the site and instead it's more like 40% of the site

"I've yet to see a builder with a plan in his hand"
Chair of MERA

Council Approved Design for Open Space 3 - between Eric Street and Windermere House

6. Unlawful materials used.  When Councillors were approving this application, one of the points they made to residents was that they were NOT going to allow open space to be reduced unless very high quality landscaping was used on the remaining areas of open space.  They gave permission for high quality materials.  The developers have substituted with cheaper materials.  MERA has complained and EastendHomes have been told that the specified materials need to be used.  The tarmac should be removed before the development is completed and MUST be removed before all homes can be occupied (see Planning Condition 11 - Landscaping Strategy & Management Plan)

7. Site drainage has been affected - By substituting tarmac for the approved pavoirs, the ratio of permeable (water can go through) to impermeable (water sits on top) materials has been changed.  Increasing impermeable materials increases the puddles and the risk of flash floods during heavy rain.One of the reasons why there is now more flooding around the country is because more and more people have paved their gardens and the water has nowhere to go   Consequently the Council seeks the use of permeable materials whereever possible eg car parking areas and permeable materials were what it had approved.

Breach of Condition 3: Site Contamination
After conducting a site visit it is apparent that Open Space 3 has been completed and foundations have been laid at Site 14, prior to Condition 3 having been formally discharged.  I have advised the developers that Open Space 3 and site 14 must be closed

Planning Enforcement Letter

 Extract from 1895 OS Map showing Rope and Twinery Works on Open Space 3 and 4

8. Site Contamination:  We have identified from maps that the majority of Open Space 3 (and 4) used to be part of a Ropery and Twine Works. This part of the site includes all the locations where the arsenic, lead and nickel were found in the previous tests as well as the carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons which are found throughout the Eric & Treby Estate. The results of tests done by Herts & Essex Site Investigations (summarised on Appendix 1 Site Plans and Conceptual Model/Sheet 7 March 2010) very clearly indicate that Open Space 3 is the most contaminated part of the whole site.  In other words
• no amount of additional testing is going to eliminate the EXPERT tests already done in March which identified the presence of Arsenice produced the recommendation that 0.5 metres of soil needed to be removed
• None of these tests can be ignored when making an assessment about this site and reviewing the recommendations of the experts as set out in the report which has already been submitted to the Council in relation to the approval of details relating to site contamination/site remediation.  
9. Poor Garden Maintenance:  Residents have commented to MERA that the plants are not being watered properly during the hot weather.  Expert opinion suggests that some of the plants have "bolted" because of the lack of water.
10. EastendHomes doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to open space and places for children to play - (see British Street: Children must not play on this site!).  See above.

It's very depressing making lists like this - because this is the first part of the (unlawful) development and just look at how many things they've got wrong!

Hopefully by highlighting the issues we can get this changed as development proceeds on Eric & Treby.

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Multiple Power Cuts in Mile End still unexplained

Buildings in and around the Eric and Treby Street Estate have been suffering a number of power cuts for the last four weeks. 

We think there have been four in total.  They've started since Telford Homes plc have been on site and plugging in to the Estate electricity supply - although this may be coincidental. The last one was on the night of 14th-15th July.

Thursday morning 8:30m

EDF Energy plc's big hole on the corner of Eric Street and Hamlets Way

Night of 14-15th July

This is the sequence of events for the latest power cut - as recorded by Mark Taylor, the Chair of MERA, and other residents on the 17th floor of  Ennerdale House.

Date	Time	What happened
14th July	22.00	Power out to all flats (on 17th floor):  No Lifts No Drinking Water Pump.  No phones where electricity required for operation. Emergency Lights on landing and stairs: lights dimmer than usual but OK.
	22.30	MERA Secretary reports to EDF Emergency Line EDF say they could see a fault on the system - probably a fuse in a sub station on Southern Grove. Engineers called but could not give ETA of power supply.
15th July	01.41	EDF log: Job was reclassified from "fuse" to "underground network fault".  Engineers attempted work around (?) at LB6 (Link Box 6)
	02.00ish	17th floor:  power came back on temporarily
	03.09	EDF log:  Engineer reports verbal abuse from member of the public while attempting to use "sniffer"
	04.31	EDF log:  Power returned
	05.30	Chair of MERA called EDF emergency line to find out reason for power cut.  They could not say but suggested he call back later.
	05.40	Chair of MERA called LBTH emergency service and reported lift serving odd floors still not working and lack of water to pump not working.  (The pump needs to be restarted after every power cut and any air block cleared before water pumps to top floors.) Told this would be fixed by midday (ie 14 HOURS AFTER WATER LOST).
	06.50	Water back on to top floors of Ennerdale House.
	08.30	3 EDF engineers on Hamlets Way probing the pavement with device and taking notes on clip board.  They said they were still investigating fault and may have to cut power again - but not to Ennerdale.
	09:00	Power to Ennerdale House went off again!

EastendHomes posted this letter (see below) to residents of Coniston House, Ennerdale House, Beckley House, Windermere House and Derwent House

However it needs to be noted that the fault also affected the private houses in Eric Street as well.

Two important points:

• EastendHomes and/or its agent LBTH Emergency Service are responsible for supplying drinking water to ALL HOMES which are without drinking water supplies as a result of the pump not working.  

Thames Water are obligated to arrange for an alternative supply, such as by water tanker or standpipe, they cannot put your supply back on within 6 hours of the interruption.  The same standard should apply to EastendHomes if a pump is not fixed and water supply restored to all tenants and leaseholders within 6 hours.

• Since the fault (and associated power cuts) has only started happening since Telford Homes has been on site, EDF Energy, EastendHomes and Telford Homes plc need to make sure - as a matter of priority - that the fault is not caused by anything that Telford Homes have done when digging holes and plugging into the network supply.

Tip:  Until such time as there is an adequate explanation of what the fault is and confidence that it has been fixed we suggest that you keep a stock of drinking water at home which is adequate for 6 hours - especially if the weather is hot and you have small children.