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Communal bins – make your voice heard

Strong opposition to communal bin proposal

At a recent meeting ofthe High West Jesmond Residents’ Association, residents expressed their strong opposition to the council’s proposal to intoduce communal bins in to the back lanes of High West Jesmond.

The main reasons for this opposition were as follows:

  • Loss of control over perconal bin space for litter
  • Likely increase in fly tipping
  • Environmental blight in the back lanes
  • Cleanliness (nobody would be responsible for cleaning the bins)
  • Increased risk of intruders using the bins to break in to properties
  • Reduced access to properties from the rear lanes
  • Concem, especially from older residents, about having to go outside their
    house each time they want to put rubbish out.
Council says it will save money

The council’s stated rationale for introducing communal bins is cost saving – but from the infomation that we have been able to obtain we are led to believe that the actual cost savings would be minimal and the one-offcosts ofmaking the changes would outweigh the projected savings for some time.

It’s clear that residents of High West Jesmond do not want communal bins imposed upon them.

Make you voice heard

The final decision is likely to be taker at the council’s budget meeting on 1 March 2017 so it’s important to move quickly to make our feelings clearly heard.

If you want to express your opposition to the introduction of communal bins then please do the following:

Write or send an e-mail to Councilor Nick Kemp (who is the Newcastle City Council cabinet member responsible for communal bins) telling him of your strong opposition to the proposal for High West Jesmond and stating your reasons. His contact details are below:

nick.kemp@newcastle.gov.uk

Write or send an e-mail to Catherine McKinnell MP (our Newcastle North MP) telling her of your strong opposition to the proposal for High West Jesmond and stating your reasons. Her contact details are below:

catherine.mckinnell.mp@parliament.uk

Catherine McKinnell MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

High West Jesmond Residents’ Association will continue to support the huge majority of residents who have expressed opposition to this proposal, but it will be extremely helpful if individual residents also write directly to the councillor and our MP to demonstrate the strength of feeling on this issue.

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Communal bins proposed in council budget

Proposal to replace wheelie bins with communal bins

Newcastle City Council has issued documents related to its 2017-18 Budget which is to be voted on at a full meeting of the council on 1 March 2017.

You can read more information on the Newcastle City Council Budget 2017-18 page.

The main proposals are contained in a 44 page document called Newcastle 2020: Investing for a fairer future – Newcastle City Council budget proposals 2017-20.

Decent neighbourhoods aim

One of the stated aims (p12) is for decent neighbourhoods:

“Decent neighbourhoods: We will invest in housing suitable for all the city’s
residents including the most vulnerable; and maintain a clean, green and attractive city in which everyone shares responsibility for keeping their neighbourhood looking good.”

Part of this section goes on to say that:

“We will develop a new waste strategy, working with residents and businesses
to reduce waste generation, increase recycling and reduce the amount of
waste we send to landfill, and dedicating £1 million to test and implement the
new strategy.”

Communal bins “where appropriate”

Further information on local services (p33) goes on to say:

“Newcastle produces significant quantities of waste – more per resident than some other UK cities. To address this we will develop a new waste strategy involving a fundamental review of how we reduce, process, use and dispose of the city’s waste. By working with communities to support people to produce less waste and recycle more waste, we will be able to make savings in costs of collection and disposal by 2020. We will also review our waste disposal sites and processes to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill, and look to commercialise waste streams wherever possible, contributing to our objective of becoming a zero carbon city by 2050.

 Collecting and disposing of waste from homes, businesses and public bins across the city takes up the majority of resources in environmental services. There is limited scope for further efficiencies through IT or changes to working practices. Our waste strategy will enable us to further improve efficiency and achieve better environmental outcomes by addressing both the quantity and type of waste produced in the city.

Achieving the transformative change in waste production and disposal envisaged by the waste review will not happen overnight. In the interim while the waste review is ongoing, we will build on previous successful approaches to improve efficiency in waste collection. Communal bins will be rolled out in further areas of the city where appropriate. This will make it easier to recycle, improve the appearance of back lanes and allow them to be serviced more effectively.

We will also dedicate £1 million to test approaches identified by the waste strategy and to support the resulting transition.”

Newcastle City Council view

The Integrated Impact Assessment document (Feb 2017) says that (p10) “back lanes present a number of challenges for the refuse collection service”.

And that communal bins have already been implemented into “All of the relevant back lanes in Ouseburn” and “a number of back lanes in Benwell and Scotswood, South Jesmond and Wingrove” wards.

Newcastle City Council’s document states that “To date, feedback has been positive from local communities where communal bins have been inplace for some time”.

Residents fear rubbish will be even worse

A recent article in the Newcastle Chronicle however made reference to concerns from local residents where communal bins were already in the process of being imposed “a number of residents on four of the affected streets told the Chronicle on Wednesday how they feared the new bin policy would make the issue of rubbish “even worse” in the area” – read the full article “Wheelie bins across Newcastle to be axed in a bid to save cash” on chroniclelive.co.uk .

High West Jesmond residents view

A number of residents have already contacted us to voice their concerns at the council’s budget proposals for communal bins citing specific examples of ongoing problems in a number of back lanes in the pilot areas where Newcastle City Council has been testing communal bins (locations referred to above).

High West Jesmond Residents’ Association believes there should be a full consultation by the council with residents and communal bins should not be imposed where their is litte support for them.

 

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Good discussion at residents’ meeting

HWJRA residents meeting was held at Trinity Church, Gosforth

There was a large attendance at last evening’s meeting of High West Jesmond Residents’ Association, this included two members of the City Council and a number of non-members who live outside High West Jesmond.

News and updates

All were eager to hear the latest news and updates. The Chairman, Nick Moore dealt in detail with matters relating to the Blue House Roundabout, Communal Bins, about which Councillor Dominic Raymont reported the latest from the City Council, and the recent incident involving the chopping down of trees without consultation.

There were many questions asked and answered in the lively discussion which took pace.

Nick Moore, Chairman of High West Jesmond Residents’ Association commented:

“Thanks to everybody who came along – it was really useful to get your feedback on the various issues as this helps guide us in how to take things forward.”

Grateful thanks were expressed to the Chairman for the time he has devoted to the HWJRA.

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HWJRA meeting 23 January 2017

Just a reminder that a meeting of High West Jesmond Residents’ Aassociation (HWJRA) takes place tomorrow evening, Tuesday 23 January 2017 at 19:00 in the Ouseburn Room at Trinity Church on Gosforth High Street – we hope to see you there.

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Moorfield trees mysteriously chopped down

Trees on allotments felled

Three beautiful trees that have stood alongside the fence next to Moorfield just inside the allotments were mysteriosly felled yesterday.

The trees have stood there for decades and there was no consultation with local residents and other members of the High West Jesmond community who have appreciated the trees.

“Tidying up”

Local residents have noted that there is no justifyable reason for their removal and have been told by the council’s Allotments Officer that he “was tidying up the allotments“.

Look at theses photographs before and after and judge for yourself.

Please protest and make your voice heard and join us in making sure no more vandalism like this takes place in our community.

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HWJRA meeting on 24 January 2017

Meeting for Residents of High West Jesmond

There will be a meeting to update on the proposed changes to Blue House Roundabout and Jesmond Dene Road, and the proposed introduction of Communal Bins.

The meeting of High West Jesmond Residents’ Association will be held on

Tuesday 24 January 2017 at 19:00
at Ouseburn Room, Trinity Church, Gosforth High Street

The meeting will hear from our Chairman, Nick Moore who has attended 6 meetings of the steering group for the development of Blue House Roundabout and Jesmond Dene Road junctions.

The steering group has not yet reached its final conclusion but this will be an opportunity for residents to be updated on work and to contribute thoughts about the proposals to date.

Also, following the recent news that the Council is proposing to introduce Communal Bins to our area we have invited our local Councillor Dominic Raymont to the meeting who will be able to share the latest news and listen to resident’s views on this issue.

We hope as many residents as possible will attend this meeting so that we can get a clear picture of the views of residents on both issues.
We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Fiona Bruce
HWJRA Secretary

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