Streetlife

Totally agree - there's so much spitting going on round here it's disgusting.

I agree with everything you have said. It was pointed out that instead of moaning about it I should do something more proactive, believe me I have tried but to no avail. To be honest a lot of people on my road just do not care.

You need a team work and unity.First of all if I know who really I am most of the problem solved and to me what I know I need to practice in life. thanks

Sorry James C, once again, the only way this will change is if we get together to do something. I'm involved with a charity that has carried out plenty of clean-ups in East Ham and other parts of Newham, bringing residents together to fight this, as well as going into schools to speak to kids about the problem.

This isn't a council failure (except for their failure to limit fast food restaurants). We have far more cover than other parts of London and a free take-away scheme for mattresses/ fly-tipped stuff. This is about us as residents and it's for us to get together to fight it - reporting messy front gardens and fly-tipping, protesting, re-educating on the effects of litter on crime etc and carrying out clean-ups. If you just want to head off to Essex, good luck; if you want to make Newham a better place, contact emma.harrington@cleanupuk.org.uk

Hi, It is very beautiful what you said we all need to get together.The way I feel every bulb has to be LIT in this room atleast one CANDLE is in this I am sure otherd can LIT SLOWLY
I will keep in touchthrough that mail address.Thanks

I was born in this area 56 years ago and in that time the population has changed and so have peoples habits.
There was once a 'Keep Britain Tidy' campaign which lasted for a number of years but when that stopped the rubbish started to be strewn everywhere.
I know that clean-up projects work for a short time but something need to be done to educate the people that it is not acceptable to throw rubbish, soiled nappies, fag butts, etc on the floor also that if you have a garden it was not put there as an overflow area for the rubbish bin.
The eyes of the world will be looking at us right through the summer so something needs to be done soon.
The council did say that they were going to fine people that dump rubbish in their gardens but I have not seen any of this taking place yet although they did start fining people for dropping litter in the shopping areas.

Peter, 
The council will enforce penalties against messy front gardens but you do need to report the garden to them first. The number you need to call will be on the council website or you can email them.
Susan

How does clearing up other people's mess help the situation?  Surely this just teaches those who dump rubbish / litter / spit that there are always other people on hand to clear up after them and that there are no consequences to their actions?

No, Coti, it doesn't work like that. It you have an area that's kept spotless people are more self-conscious about dropping litter and less likely to do it. There've been surveys that have proved this but also had this from the horse's mouth in Newham, where we did a huge clean-up round flower-beds and green of Ron Leighton way and a local street cleaner thanked us and  told us that whenever residents do clean-ups the level of littering plummets for the few months after. As our group's all about local residents taking responsibility for a particular patch of their area and then having a group clean-up, say, once every 6 weeks - 2 months (for an hour/ 2 hours), that will have an impact. And as i said before, we also try to re-educate people by going into schools to talk about litter.

It's also about crime, though, and pride in your area. Littered areas look uncared for, which is depressing for people who live there, but also raises levels of anti-social behaviour/ burglaries etc. If groups of locals can be seen getting together  as a group on a regular basis and tidying the area it has same impact as a Neighbourhood Watch sticker as a deterrent - but also has the feel-good factor of giving residents a really easy way to make a difference to their communities and get to know their neighbours.

I should stress that I'm not saying all the answers are in us, as residents, doing the work. The areas of land we concentrate CleanupUK group clean-ups concentrate on are specific pieces of greenspace or alleyways/ nooks, that have just fallen between stools and been forgotten about or where level of littering is just too high for normal services to cope. We don't do front gardens which are private property (that's for the council to do, thought you do need to  report them, so do that  and keep reporting them) and with streets, we leave them to the street cleaners (though do think it would be good to have a campaign to make sure businesses keep the areas in front of and down the side of their shops clean). The only street we have done - Ron Leighton Way - we've done because it's just too big for the one person who does it. It took us an hour with 60 people to clean it up, so quite how one person is meant to cope....

Clearing up other peoples mess does not work. I have cleared our road only to find more rubbish. I even went as far as speaking to the neighbours concerned only for them to say it's the wind. They were reported but no one turned up. Why on earth should we have to keep clearing other peoples crap.
I totally disagree at the self-consciousness of people because that does not exist. When the paving was replaced on the next road along they were clean and white. Later on that day there were two mattresses and dog mess.

Moved our bins last night at around 7'ish and I saw across the road a man urinating on a neighbours wall, these people are animals. If this behaviour is known to the council why do they not invest in CCTV in the troubled areas, i'm sure this will deter those who just think they're above the law.
The council should invest in clearing the area of these types of people instead of wasting money on those people not willing to work but yet have enough money to buy cars, drugs and a couple of holidays a year...and yes they have been reported.

It's also about council officers actually using their powers of enforcement for a change and issuing on-the-spot fines for littering.  I know they can't be everywhere all the time but they could send a couple of officers to particularly bad spots at regular intervals until the message got through.  All they do is put posters up saying what the fines are - the litterers take no notice of this because they know it's rarely enforced.

Agreed, though think problem is, as you say, that they can't be everywhere and litter-dropping occurs across the borough. Know with the problem of drinking in the street, the difficulty is that if you enforce a no-drink zone, it just means the street-drinkers switch location and other Newham Residents have a rough time. There could still be more enforcements on messy gardens/ fly-tippers, though, and more controls on businesses to force them to keep areas round their pitches/ premises clean. Would be lovely to see supermarkets like Asda/ Sainsburys taking initiaitive here as it's out-of-town plots where they have their biggest stores that would seems to be particularly bad for litter - the Asda corriodor in Beckton/ the cycle paths round Beckton Sainsburys.

Great to see that my tread got so many responses, yes i remember the Keep Britain tidy ad's but the trouble is there is no respect any more! There is No perceived justice and no deterrent they just do what they want and stick two fingers up at the world. They just laugh at us stupid who people who go to work and try their best to be civilized human beings and be part of a community..... unfortunately until people understand that the welfare system is a safety net rather than a lifestyle choice we will always have this problem....

Yet another mattress on our road.

Then report it Mehmet. Fill out an online form and the council will remove it. If they don't complain again and then speak to your councillor. If they do nothing dont' vote for them in the next elections - and warn them this is what you'll be doing.

James C - so what's the solution then? The one thing we all agree on is that we're all sick of the sight of litter and concerned about the anti-social behaviour that goes with it. I know how I've responded to the issue, what are you going to do? Highlighting the problem in an online local forum is great but if that's all you do I can guarantee that won't change anything - where as at least with my actions I've seen they do have some kind of impact. I'm not saying I've got the answer or that there aren't many other things we could do (that might have more impact) but complaining on this site will definitely achieve nothing without some kind of further action.

Susan - I have reported these matters on numerous occassions...hell I even reported the tenants next door to us a while back regarding drugs, criminal damage and litter and told the council that I wish to remain annonymous and do you know what...the council told them that I reported them. The tenants came over and threatened me and my family. I called the council to complain only to have the guy on the phone giggling like a little kid upon asking what was so funny and explained that I instructed them that I was to remain annonymous he actaully said that he found it quite funny. This is the calllibre of the staff working for the council, no wonder some of the residents of Newham think that they can get away with it. Trust me I have contatced the council, local neighbourhood police, counsellors, I even stood for counsellor to try and make a difference...NOTHING WORKS.

I appreciate what you are saying but I hope you understand that sometime you feel as though you are banging your head against a wall.

I am a member of the street watchers association in Newham and have filled out various reports as well as calling it in. I even offered to send in a photo of a van unloading rubbish only to be told that they will not accept photos, I offered the reg number instead and again was told by a council official that they will not accept that either as I could hold a grudge against that person I argued my case and they hung up.

I've decided what action I'm going to take - I'm getting out of here sharpish.  Let them wallow in their own filth.

Fine. Shut the door after you. What Newham needs is people who'll stand together to face problems not turn tail at the sight of a chicken box. Thank goodness we're talking about a few cans and mattresses and not the blitz if this is the level of backbone in the East End these days.

Susan, there is no need to be rude. That was a small example, the point I was making is that Newham made an effort to make the area look new and modern but no sooner this was done people started to leave rubbish. The rubbish did build up in the area to such an extent that I had a door left in my driveway as well as a sofa in front of a school a fridge/freezer on the street corner and a shop freezer system. If rudeness is a means to get at people because they are fed up well frankly that is uncalled for. As I said I have tried everything under the sun with my neighbours only to get nowhere. No one on my road is interested and I cannot get anyone to back me up on this.

Mehmet, I'm not being rude. All I'm saying is that Coti lacked backbone. We're all fed up with litter but some of us are doing something about it. I'm sorry your neighbours didn't back you but on several occasions I've offered to hook you up with a group who would. Path, who did want to actually do something about the problem, is now working with us to set up a group with his neighbours. Why don't you join us and we'll prove to you that you don't have to just accept the ways things are. You have a choice here. You can keep fighting with other local residents at your side or you can scuttle out the back door with Coti. Us eastenders are a tough, fighting breed - or we used to be.

Great posting JamesC. I have one question though. Are you sure that you live in Newham as you sound like you are one of my neighbours in the next door borough of Barking and Dagenham!
I am sure that we could all give long lists of cuases and effects of this moral and social decline that we as decent people are witnessing in the 21st Century.I recently read a book on the depravity and squalor that East Enders lived in some 150 years ago. It could have been reflecting on life in the 21st Century in the East End. To my mind the main contributor, but definitely not the only one, to our current situation is the credit crunch which wasn't all our fault but it is us who are suffering....... I wonder if Mr 20 Million Diamond experiences similar problems ?

It's hard for me to be active as I am currently instructed to stay at home (Doctors orders). I tried to fire up the residents because all they ever do is moan and knock on my door to do something about it. I have had enough because all they ever do is constantly hassle me. Even in my current state of health I have fight but am not physically active as I used to be.

Seconded. "All in it together", I don't think so. This borough is going to suffer massive cuts to services and the next years are going to be very difficult indeed.

PS to the last....
I sincerely hope that from my last comment I dont sound to much like a communist agitator ! I am definately not. But I hate in justice with a passion and currently to many decent people are left without a voice and those who have the voice are heard in little more than a whisper !