Received 23/10/05

Hello Del,

Thanks for letting me have a copy of your email to Cllr Mann. I have had a discussion with the Chief Executive (last week) about the poor service being provided by the council on Harold Hill. This included the delays in collecting fly tipped rubbish and sweeping the streets. Both Jeff Stafford and myself have been involved with officers to try to improve the litter problems and speeding on Whitchurch Road and the problem with the poor maintenance of the road surface. We have succeeded in getting more rubbish bins along the road from the shops to the College and we have had a meeting with the college Principle in an effort to making the college a better neighbour. This is an ongoing activity and our next area committee will be held in the college. The bins were installed as we asked, the road surface has benefited from some repairs and while the repairs are not what is needed, at least there has been some response. We will continue to press for our fair share of the highways budget. The statistical evidence from the police and the council did not support the resident's claims around speeding but we have managed to secure a Vehicle Activated roadside device, which have proved successful on other roads in the borough. I am sure that with your experience you will appreciate that all our efforts amount to nothing if appropriate enforcement is not consistently carried out and offenders made to accept responsibility for their actions.

Jeff and myself will continue to put pressure on the administration to provide the level of services, which are the entitlement of all residents. Like your group, Jeff and myself are also using photos to demonstrate to officers and the lead members what an eyesore all this dumped rubbish is creating and the failure of the current service to address the problem. Our next action is to arrange for the Director responsible for street care to walk around our ward to see firsthand the scale of the problem and to find out how he plans to improve the services. We are also in discussions with the Parks and Housing Officers to get them to accept responsibility and to stop “passing the buck” over who is responsible for open spaces. Hope this update is of interest to you and we will continue to support the efforts of your group.

Kind regards Yve Cornell