Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Don't "Get Involved"

JP writes:

DON'T GET INVOLVED

Crosswhatfields has published, from time to time*, snippets of the long saga concerning the provision of five waste bins in the Sue Godfrey Nature Park in Bronze Street, a seemingly never ending and, on the face of it, very tedious tale. However, as the instigator of the whole thing, I feel that what has happened should be an lesson to all who have considered or will consider volunteering to 'do business' with our local council.

In brief, my idea last year was to provide some receptacles for the drink cans and food wrappings etc. that litter that area, especially when the weather is good; this small suggestion has developed into a fine example of bureaucracy gone mad.

I envisaged a couple of guys coming down from the council depot and taking ten minutes or so to place five of the standard blue bins close to the seats or where they would be most useful. Maximum cost – say £200 for the bins and less for the labour – £400 would seem a generous budget. Nearly a year has passed, there has been a visit by at least one council 'suit', a dozen letters and more that a dozen emails have passed back and forth, a dozen or so phone calls have been made, more that half a dozen council employees have been involved, estimates of over £2,500 plus labour have been quoted. THE BINS ARE STILL NOT IN PLACE!!

All this correspondence does not involve bins for the adjacent Ferranti Park, which I am told is 'administered' by a different council department, relevant because the recent spell of fine weather has resulted in an earlier than usual spread of garbage in both parks.

If the bins ever do arrive, I suppose the little effort required on my part to site them (as has been suggested by the council) will not be beyond me but 'Get Involved' again – NEVER.

JP

* see previous posts in April and May

Many apologies to JP who sent this letter to the blog back in May. We were waiting for an update on the other Resident Involvement project which has also been delayed by incompetence and obfuscation, but it could be another month or two before that...

4 comments:

  1. I'm confused, is this a Lewisham Homes scheme or a Lewisham Council scheme? The 'get involved' tag suggests the former but doesn't the council 'look after' the Sue Godfrey nature park? Whichever, I agree that the cost quoted is monstrous and the bureaucracy involved very wasteful of everyone's time.

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  2. Lewisham Homes scheme, Dame. The land belongs to Lewisham Council and Creekside Discovery Centre has been tasked with the husbandry. The Centre said that in the past they've not been keen on litter bins because they attract more litter – but have now revised that idea. If JP's scheme doesn't go ahead they would hope to raise funds in the future to get some bins. Naturally, that doesn't include Ferranti Park.

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  3. Ship of fools? Deptford did ships, Lewisham does fools. We call it progress.

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  4. 'not keen on litter bins because they attract more litter'? *seriously confused*

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