Waste collections next week – reminder
Because of the Bank Holiday on Monday 28th, waste and recycling collections next week will be one day later than usual.
From the Berrylands Front
A Berrylands resident, struggling with the current recycling ‘trial’ has written about his experiences to Surbiton Conservative councillors as follows:-
It is early Friday morning and my wife and I have had our knuckles rapped; we have had another telling off ! Our misdemeanour? Well! It is like this:-
In our enthusiasm to save the planet and do our bit we put all our plastic rubbish in a receptacle for just that, plastics ! However, it’s the wrong sort of plastics ! ( That is only one of our crimes ) -but to continue – In order to reinforce the chastisement letter the police included an RBK publication which listed the various types of plastic. There are seven different types. Each type has a comment of “yes please” or “no thank you”, Out of those seven only two are “yes please”s. By simple calculation I have worked out that this council is unable to recycle getting on for three quarters of all plastics. It would seem that we have to look for a recyclable logo, decide, then discard as appropriate.
Up before the “Beak” I would explain that I am streets; years ahead of the council in that I am sorting and putting out for recycling plastics that this council has not yet began to work out how to recycle.
Another paragraph on the RBK publication tells us that supermarkets can recycle our discarded plastic shopping bags for absolutely nothing.Yes ! Nothing. But our council is unable to recycle them even though that is one of the things for which we pay our council tax.
This means that I appear to be recycling less. OK ! So I am a recycling fanatic. Over sixty years ago in my childhood I was making model railway engines out of empty, discarded cornbeef tins and in more recent times I could be seen joining the end of a queue – which frequently now extends way down Villiers Road – to get into the recycling centre to properly discard my unwanted refuse. But ! Can’t you just hear those councillors who are quite unable to improve recycling rates saying. “Right ! This is what we will do. We will give all the Berrylands residents a whole miscellaneous collection of containers for rubbish. That will make it look as though we are serious about recycling then we will follow that with some bin police who will write officious letters about every little mistake to the residents to make them believe that our inability to improve recycling is all their fault.”
– and that is only about plastics. Multiply that by paper, cardboard, wood, glass, metal, kitchen waste; -but they are other stories which I might keep for another day.
Paradoxically all this belligerence occured on the one day in the fortnight when all of our rubbish was supposed to be cleared.
Surgery this coming Saturday
We will hold our next advice surgery for Surbiton Hill and other residents at the Small Hall, Surbiton Library (behind the War Memorial) on Saturday 19th. May between 10 a.m. and 12 noon.
We are particularly keen to hear people’s views on waste management/collection issues in the light of the Berryllands Trial and its possible implications for Surbiton Hill residents. Wea er also keen to hear about any other concerns residents may have on any subject they think we might help with.
No appointment is needed but it might be helpful if people wishing to discuss specific problems let us know beforehand. Contact details are on the ‘About us’ page. See the link above.
Waste collection – how often?
Controversy looms nationwide over the frequency with which general household refuse should be collected and over the most efficient way to encourage recycling as opposed to sending most waste to landfill. One of the most important factors driving this is the Government’s Landfill Tax which is set to ratchet ever upwards and which bears directly on the Council Tax.
Earlier entries on this site have spelt out the view we take on the current Berrylands trial, using multiple recycling containers and collecting general household waste fortnightly.
It is very important to us to know what constituents think on this issue as the Council enters into contracts which will determine the future of this service for the next quarter century.
“When you went to cast your vote in last year’s local elections, what did you think of the polling station you visited? Was it conveniently located? Was access to the building good? Was their adequate lighting inside and out?Now’s your chance to let Kingston Council know what you think of the polling stations in your area by contributing to the Review of Polling Districts and Polling Places.
This is the first review of polling stations to be carried out under new Government regulations which require all local authorities to examine their polling station facilities every four years.
Formal consultation is already under way and the closing date for having your say is Monday 30 April. Details of the borough’s 49 polling stations can be viewed by visiting www.kingston.gov.uk/elections and following the link to the Review of Polling Districts and Polling Places pages.”
Our present polling stations in Surbiton Hill are at St. Matthew’s School in Langley Road and The Corner House in Douglas Road.
Sunrise appeal MkI withdrawn
At 10 a.m. today a packed meeting at the YMCA in Surbiton heard that the appeal by Sunrise against the refusal of their first application for a home rising to 4 storeys at the junction of Upper Brighton Road and Langley Avenue had been withdrawn. They intend instead to concentrate on an appeal against the refusal of RBK’s Development Control Committee for a scaled down home on 5th April. No date was fixed for the hearing of this new appeal but Southborough RA representative, Kenneth Peay, pointed out to the Inspector that July would be very inconvenient for people seeking to give evidence because of holiday bookings. As the same obviously applies to August it may well be September at the earliest before a new appeal hearing can be arranged.
Because of the large attendance this morning it is likely that a very different, much larger venue will have to be booked.
Today’s hearing, scheduled to last up to 3 days, lasted 10 minutes.
Surbiton Forum 