Bohemia Village Voice

By John Humphries aug 2011

COUNCIL IN BID TO CUT COSTS.

Andrew Cartwright – seeking views

HASTINGS COUNCIL IS LOOKING to find ways of reducing the cost of waste collection and street cleaning. It has asked Andrew Cartwright (councillor for Gensing Ward, which includes Bohemia) to look at possible new waste collection arrangements for the ward. He has been meeting residents and gives his interim thoughts below. He says “How waste collection and street cleaning can be improved at the same time as reducing the cost is a very big challenge and it is far from certain whether it can be achieved.” Andrew concedes that “there appear to be signifcant difficulties with all the known methods of waste collection for an area like Bohemia.”
COMMUNAL BINS
“No one seems to think that “communal bins” are the answer for Bohemia although a number of residents living in the South of the ward bordering central St Leonards have expressed an interest in them in the past. The Council recently held a successful trial of small street bins on Church Road, however, even these are unlikely to be acceptable in most streets in Gensing ward.”
WHEELIE BINS
Wheelie bins, says Andrew, “are the most widely used form of container for refuse and it is unlikely that these would be withdrawn from any household which currently has them.”

Black bags

BLACK BAGS
Plastic sacks “are used by many households and are problematic, resulting in dirty streets and low rates of recycling. Recently, Thanet District Council has trialled seagull-proof sacks. It is possible that these would be an effective replacement for plastic sacks.”
STREET CLEANING
“Street cleaning”, says Andrew, “is undertaken on the basis that only major streets are cleaned regularly. Other streets are cleaned only on a “need” basis when they have reached a certain level of dirtiness. This has never been popular with residents. Frequent regular cleaning of all streets is financially impossible, however, there may still be opportunities for improving street cleanliness.
VEOLIA
The contract which Hastings Council has with Veolia ends in about 2 years’ time. Due to a combination of heavy Government cuts plus price inflation, HBC needs to significantly reduce the cost of waste collection and street cleaning prior to signing a new contract. All districts and boroughs in East Sussex need to reduce their costs. However, this can only be done if the different authorities can agree on standardised methods of collection. Discussions between the different authorities are ongoing. Andrew says “a big reduction in cost might be made if several authorities signed a joint contract based on a standard method of waste collection / street cleaning. Discussion between four local authorities in East Sussex have begun to see whether a joint contract is possible.”
o Andrew would love to hear from you. Cllr Andrew Cartwright (andrew@gensing.org Tel: 203231)