Re: Anti-social Rochdale

Guest Sat Jun 15, 2013 10:21 pm

Poppyanna: ETA is 7-8 AUGUST.

Guest Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:28 pm

I see from today you've got some colour-matching Fly Tipping now Poppyanna: - green armchairs almost blending in with the grass ....

Poppyanna555 Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:47 pm

MJH.....I am totally fed up of all of this now!

I won't bore you with all the details but apparently, that sofa is on private land according to the RMBC Enforcement Officer who visited me last week (which is nonsense because it is on the same strip of land that the rest of the junk is on). Also, we have been graced with another bag of nappies and bags of household rubbish dumped outside the Prayer House, plus another mattress and again I have pulled out a name and address of someone living on that row which is incidentally someone at the Prayer House address.....all this dumped last Friday, the day we have our bins emptied so, what could possibly be the excuse?!

Myself and some of my neighbours are still fighting the good fight though.....JUST! Mad

Hinch Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:49 am

You seem to be caught in a vicious pincer movement between irresponsible neighbours and the piss-poor council.

Private land or not, on health grounds alone, the council should clear this hazard and charge the owner of the land. Simples!

I am sure that in the Prayer House, they will be praying for an effective and speedy resolution to the issue.

Mind you, in this town you are more likely to be prosecuted for 'harrassing' your peace-loving and fully integrated neighbours Poppy.

By the way, if anyone wants a child's car seat and an old kitchen unit, there's one thrown out on the road at the end of my street.

cyfrifia Mon Jun 24, 2013 7:37 pm

Anti-social Rochdale - Page 6 Ketchikan-employment-tour-guide

Hello everyone, we hope you will all enjoy this grand day out.We will soon be arriving in the town. Look out on the left for scraggy chickens and on the right for old sofas and mattresses. We will be driving down Soilednappy avenue and on past the general household rubbish. Then it will be time to meet the Mayor for a cup of tea and a short talk about land ownership and other excuses.

Hinch Mon Jun 24, 2013 7:52 pm

... and we will have a ten minute stop in Belfield to allow the driver to empty the toilet and throw out the rubbish...

Poppyanna555 Tue Jun 25, 2013 12:07 am

Spot on Hinch and Cyfi and you Hinch in particular have raised some very valid points.

I have e-mailed more photos today to my contact at RMBC showing the latest detritus tossed out onto my nearby street, this filth is thrown out almost on a daily basis and enough is enough! Evil or Very Mad

There has been far too much apathy for far too long, it has been going on for years not months and has naturally gathered momentum, I guess you could say I have the bit between my teeth now! I aim to be the proverbial thorn in the side of Rochdale Council until I can see evidence of actions taken against these dirty blighters, they have had all their own way for far too long.

Everyone has the right to live in a litter free environment regardless of whether it is Belfield or Bamford and I am tired of the NIMBY mentality that seems to prevail in some quarters. bounce

I think it is going to be a long hard slog......

.......

Atlas Tue Jun 25, 2013 12:29 am

There's nothing better than big 'thorns'. Stick it too them. They don't like it up 'em you know. Very Happy

:affraid:

Guest Thu Jul 04, 2013 10:02 pm

Poppyanna555 wrote: ----There has been far too much apathy for far too long, it has been going on for years not months and has naturally gathered momentum, I guess you could say I have the bit between my teeth now! I aim to be the proverbial thorn in the side of Rochdale Council until I can see evidence of actions taken against these dirty blighters, they have had all their own way for far too long.

Everyone has the right to live in a litter free environment regardless of whether it is Belfield or Bamford and I am tired of the NIMBY mentality that seems to prevail in some quarters.

I think it is going to be a long hard slog.......

Poppyanna: I read this forecast and thought of your longstanding detritus battles, especially against the nappy dumping! : -

Month-long heatwave on the way

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/81237/monthlong-heatwave-on-the-way

Why is there a Biffa container on the pavement outside a corner shop in your neck of the woods ... is this a new sign of local neighbourhood progress ?

Poppyanna555 Thu Jul 04, 2013 10:43 pm

Yes, another mini heatwave forecast for this weekend MJH and another two bags of nappies and other rubbish tossed out onto the piece of land directly behind the Prayer House. I stumbled upon this lot on Monday (a couple of days after the last lot of rubbish was cleared) and promptly e-mailed photographs once again to that nice Enforcement Officer at the Council (have not had a response to date) although he did turn up last Friday to collect a second piece of correspondence showing another name and address of someone living on that row, duly picked out of the rubbish once more by moi. The signature jumbo Daz packet is among this rubbish too, obviously it is the same householder continuing to take the proverbial.

You ask about the Biffa bin, I assume you are referring to the bin chained to a lamp post at the side of the Newsagents? This is a meat bin belonging to the newsagents/grocery store who also have a butchers at the back of the shop. That bin should be kept in their back yard but when they changed from being a lock up to their actually residing in the flat above the shop, they decided to dump the bin on the public highway for everyone to enjoy the whiff of rotting meat as they pass, including the children passing every day to go to the local primary school......nice! affraid

Atlas Fri Jul 05, 2013 12:46 am

That bin should be kept in their back yard but when they changed from being a lock up to their actually residing in the flat above the shop, they decided to dump the bin on the public highway for everyone to enjoy the whiff of rotting meat as they pass, including the children passing every day to go to the local primary school......nice!

I think you might find that contravenes the Environmental & Food Safety Act. Uncooked meat by-products have to be kept in a cold-room until collection by the relevant disposers- unless I am not mistaken. What a Face

Poppyanna555 Fri Jul 05, 2013 7:14 pm

Several of my neighbours have reported this bin Atlas to RMBC, their response? "it's ok as long as there is no smell". Well, I can assure you that there IS a smell during the warm weather and this in turn has been reported. What has been their response to these complaints....NOTHING.

Atlas Sat Jul 06, 2013 1:01 am

No.NO.NO.NO.NO. You phone them back. It has nothing whatever to do with 'odours'. It has everything to do with attracting vermin. Uncooked meat has a minuscule shelf life of safety when outside a cold room and rapidly attracts all kinds of unsocialable vermin and bacterial deceases. It's a HEALTH and PUBLIC SAFETY issue and is illegal. Kick their damn backsides and tell them to extract digits immediately. affraid

cyfrifia Sat Jul 06, 2013 1:11 am

When a council refuses to act to enforce health and safety rules, what can you do, are they breaking any law by failing to act?

Atlas Sat Jul 06, 2013 1:18 am

Indeed they are. They have a duty of 'care' under the present legislation and cannot ignore a complaint relating to such an issue without incurring sanction. Once reported and 'logged' (and to do that you would have to write and proof of delivery) they are 'duty' bound to act within a reasonable length of time (not more than 48 hours). You have to show them you mean business. A phone call isn't doing that. A registered letter - a different ball-game. Smile

cyfrifia Sat Jul 06, 2013 9:41 am

Why a council would fail to act on health and safety problems is a story to itself. The usual answer put forward when industry or commercial businesses blight housing areas with toxic chemicals, bio-hazards, noise, filth, dangerous loading and so on is that jobs matter and the council are unwilling to disrupt firms that employ people.

On closer examination this is often not a reasonable argument. Ordinary people's lives, health and safety do matter. Health and safety has had a bad press, but even so, a common-sense look at some of these situations will show that some firms and businesses entirely take the mickey, damaging peoples lives for entirely selfish and financial reasons. If businesses cannot make a living without putting the health and the safety of people living nearby at risk, they are in the wrong place.

Beneath all that argument it sometimes becomes apparent that whoever owns the offending business has family members, business associates, or other influence or leverage within the council.

For ordinary householders whose lives and neighborhood are blighted with this kind of thing, yes, Atlas is right, once the underlying issues are understood, it becomes apparent that to get anything improved is a different ball-game, a game of hard-ball, and a difficult one for ordinary people who do not know the law and regulation in detail to succeed in.

Poppyanna555 Sun Jul 07, 2013 6:36 pm

Well, after e-mailing photographs of MORE bags of nappies and other junk dumped last Monday 1/7 the rubbish is still in situ (through this nice heatwave too I might add) and has been duly added to today (household rubbish, not nappies...yet)! and so again I have taken photographs and e-mailed them to that nice man at the Council. Rolling Eyes

We are fighting a losing battle here, all the Council are doing is 'playing catch up' and, at a snails pace at that. I have asked him what the feasibility is of having a camera sited there? not one fixed to a lamp post but perhaps a tiny one fixed to the school railings behind the bushes?

I am sure my query will be poo hoo'd of course, no money etc etc.

Anyway, an acknowledgement would be nice this time, although a speedy removal would be even better!

cyfrifia Sun Jul 07, 2013 8:54 pm

Poopyanna says "I am sure my query will be poo hoo'd of course"

I expect you may be aware that there is a poo-hooing procedure, for what the council may choose to consider as 'vexatious and unreasonably persistent complainants'.

The Local Government Ombudsman defines unreasonably persistent complainants as:

“Those who, because of the frequency or nature of their contact with an authority, hinder the authority’s consideration of their, or other people’s, complaints”

Dealing with vexatious or unreasonably persistent complainants has the potential to be resource intensive whilst achieving no benefit for customers or Service users. If the Corporate Complaints Team or Head of Service consider a complaint to be deliberately repetitious or vexatious, a decision may be taken at any stage not to pursue the complaint under the Corporate Complaints Policy.

Poppyanna555 Sun Jul 07, 2013 10:12 pm

I'll take my chances Cyfrifia! Very Happy

Oh, and I can live with 'Poopyanna'.....it's actually quite fitting under the circumstances...... Razz

cyfrifia Sun Jul 07, 2013 11:48 pm

Sorry about the poopy, Poppy.

Yes, I expect you will 'take your chances', and carry on complaining if you need to. I don't know if Rochdale still operate the 'vexatious complainant' lark, the idea seems to be to try to convince people they can never get anywhere by complaining.

I only wish there was a quicker way to get the results you want, which is just for reasonable standards. I wonder if there is a quicker and more effective way than keep drawing the attention of the council to what needs doing.

Poppyanna555 Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:34 am

Cyfria posted:

I wonder if there is a quicker and more effective way than keep drawing the attention of the council to what needs doing.

The guy I am in contact with describes my correspondence as "us working together" and that is how I see it. I have personally supplied him with two lots of evidence I have found by rooting around in bags (not my job for sure but desperate times call for desperate measures)! He knows that this isn't just about my concerns as he has sat in my house with some of my neighbours too.

But, if you can think of a less 'vexatious' or 'repetitious' route to solving our problems, i'm all ears! save for shipping out to the Fylde coast which is definitely not an option Laughing

cyfrifia Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:54 am

Having someone apparently onside within the council should be useful. It depends on how the council works, the office politics and what goes on. One thing to beware of is that this kind of thing can be a long haul, and apparently useful people can move on to other jobs, so best not to have all eggs in one basket.

The word 'evidence' sounds encouraging, the idea there may be something vaguely legalistic going on tends to get people to take notice.

Beyond that, it needs someone who knows the situation well, cares about it, and understands how R.M.B.C. is working at the moment to offer advice. I'm hoping someone here might pop up and offer useful advice, but, the forum seems rather limited at the moment.

Hinch Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:12 am

Publicity? Have you contacted Rochdale Online and sent in your photos to news@rochdaleonline.co.uk?

Unfortunately, due to major heath issues, I am only submitting occasional pieces for them at the moment but feel sure they would be very interested.

Poppyanna555 Mon Jul 08, 2013 1:18 pm

Hello Hinch. Yes, I sent an e-mail with photos on 31/5 to Rochdale Online and received a reply on 2/6 ago that suggested I contact Ghulam Rasul Shazad and Christine Mathewson, Coordinators of Rochdale Environment Action Group. Please find below the e-mail that I sent to Rochdale Online:

Please find below a second email and some photos I previously sent to Ward Councillors about the horrendous fly tipping & foul litter problems in our neighbourhood. Perhaps you could start a “ Nominated Grot Spot” feature ? The weather is forecast to be warmer over this coming weekend, which will add to the connected health and vermin problems: - Soiled, discarded nappies that are well over 2 weeks old provide but a small example.

I write on behalf of a number of people. We all feel very much at risk, individually and collectively, from harassment, intimidation, or worse, if our own names are put out into the public domain, and now despair of support in highlighting what is an awful local problem.

If you feel this situation could be shown as an article &/or a local illustration of absolute community disregard, please would you phone me, and I’d be pleased to discuss it further with yourselves.

I contacted Ghulam Shazad by e-mail on 3/6 (again attaching photographs) and he responded almost immediately (which pleased me as I thought he may be very proactive) and, in his response, he said that he had met previously with Cllr Dalat Ali and management of the Shah Jalal Academy and they had agreed a proper clean up of the area with a lorry. He said that they were going to approach the Authority for a lorry and would go out with a team to clean the area up but, that he was still awaiting a response so he promised to e-mail Cllr Dalat Ali asking him to accelerate his efforts as soon as possible. The clean up never happened!

I had previously contacted Shakil Ahmed on 19/5 by e-mail, again attaching photographs. I did not receive a reply and so contacted him again on 30/5 when he responded immediately advising me that he hadn't received my first email, but that he was happy to inform me that the Highways and Environment Team would be visiting the Kingsway and Belfield ward tomorrow 31/5 and would therefore address the issues I had raised. That didn't happen either or, if it did....the rubbish wasn't cleared up.

So Cyfrifia, I don't think that I can be accused of 'putting all my eggs in one basket' as you describe it. I have been struggling since the middle of May (and so have some of my neighbours) to get this situation under control.

Oh, and Hinch....i'm sorry to hear of your health problems, I know you are due to go in for surgery soon and I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery.

cyfrifia Mon Jul 08, 2013 3:45 pm

No, you don't seem to have an egg basket problem. Hope some of your efforts do get somewhere.

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