partnerships

[Agamemnon1]

On Saturday 8th April Blackbrook Community Association will be holding a skip day on Vulcan and Valiant closes. In a bid to dispose of residents waste, BCA have formed a partnership with other organizations to enable this project to go ahead. There will be skips at two locations on Vulcan and Valiant , There will also be a litter pick conducted by volunteers who care about where they live, All children who take part will receive refreshments and a free Easter Egg. This project is costing in excess of £2,000-00  ( due to the cost of the skips ) raised by BCA, 

Bearing in mind that this project will benefit not only the residents , But go a long way to help WBC waste collections to save money ! BCA wanted to use Fearnhead Community Centre as a base for a few hours on the day to provide a meeting point and to provide refreshments for the volunteers, Unfortunately, the department responsible for center hire refused point blank to waive the hire fee of £20-00 for 3 hours use. Whilst we agree that WBC need to achieve cuts to its finances. BCA feel that the departments refusal to join in this partnership leaves a lot to be desired. We have had nothing but excellent support from WBC Environmental Dept ( Mr Chadwick in particular) our local Councillors, The Neighborhood team, and many others. The hire fee is not the issue here. It is the inflexibility of the department concerned to join in a partnership with the other groups. If need be i will personally pay the hire fee out of my own pocket. It is the principle of a partnership project that is the crux of the matter. BCA and others will certainly look twice at any other community initiatives we will plan in the future.

 

 

 

[Gary]

Is the community centre owned and run by WBC?

[Agamemnon1]

Hi Gary. yes the centre is owned by WBC,

[Agamemnon1]

The Vulcan/Valiant skip day went off superbly. Volunteers along with residents loaded an incredible 5 skip loads in 2 hours.

Much of the waste was recyclable, so perhaps there is a lesson there. Many thanks to all who took part especially BCA volunteers who organized the event. The volunteer litter pick was also a great success with numerous bags of rubbish disposed of. With more input from service providers I am sure we could improve on recycling more waste instead of it going to landfill. Once again many thanks to all who took part in this event, You are all diamonds.

PS. I was amazed that certain politicians did not turn up. Maybe it was because there was no photo shoot to hijack !!

[Bazj]

Great effort... but sadly, although much of your waste was recyclable, if people don't have the money to pay for the recycling, the council aren't interested. The waste collection services in the town are atrocious and  IMHO it should not be left to volunteers and community groups to carry out this essential service, it should be done by the council as part of their commitment to saving the planet and recycling its resources. But of course they have expensive new offices to pay for and need every penny they can grab

[Dizzy]

Great to hear it all went well Armagedon1 and wow 5 skip loads in two hours is an amazing amount collected.  Well done to all involved

Saying that if someone provided free skips near my house for a few hours I recon I could fill at least two all on my own if I had a junk out at ours house   Any chance you can arrange some...please.... ha ha

[Dizzy]

11 hours ago, Bazj said:

Great effort... but sadly, although much of your waste was recyclable, if people don't have the money to pay for the recycling, the council aren't interested. The waste collection services in the town are atrocious and  IMHO it should not be left to volunteers and community groups to carry out this essential service, it should be done by the council as part of their commitment to saving the planet and recycling its resources. But of course they have expensive new offices to pay for and need every penny they can grab

I don't get what you mean Baz re people not having the money to pay to recycle.  All households have blue bins for recycling (still free of charge for now) and It doesn't cost anything to take things to the local tip and deposit in the correct skip for recycling either.

Some people are just too damn lazy to do that though hence the reason the volunteer groups and the council then have to go round and clear up their dumped mess
 

[Evil Sid]

But if you cannot get a large item in your car then what you are supposed to do is call the council to arrange pick up for which the council now charge a fee, unless it is white goods which are free. All other items are charged at £20.00 for three items with an extra fee of £6.67 per item for just two more items. so for five large items it would cost you £33.34.

that would cover a three piece suite and a carpet and a wardrobe for example, after that you have to start again so if you are clearing a house of all furniture it could run out at nearly £200 for you to get the council to get  rid of the items. A skip is  alot cheaper but unless you can get it onthe property and away from the neighbours you end up with half the streets junk dumped in it.

[Agamemnon1]

9 hours ago, Dizzy said:

Great to hear it all went well Armagedon1 and wow 5 skip loads in two hours is an amazing amount collected.  Well done to all involved

Saying that if someone provided free skips near my house for a few hours I recon I could fill at least two all on my own if I had a junk out at ours house   Any chance you can arrange some...please.... ha ha

Thanks Dizzy. Just one thing i feel should mention, It is Agamemnon1, and not Armagedon1. Although perhaps your version may be more suitable for me. lol.

[Agamemnon1]

20 hours ago, Bazj said:

Great effort... but sadly, although much of your waste was recyclable, if people don't have the money to pay for the recycling, the council aren't interested. The waste collection services in the town are atrocious and  IMHO it should not be left to volunteers and community groups to carry out this essential service, it should be done by the council as part of their commitment to saving the planet and recycling its resources. But of course they have expensive new offices to pay for and need every penny they can grab

Hi Bazj.  Your right Bazj, it should be in the interest of the council to take a more proactive role in recycling, unfortunately this is not the case. We at BCA are now looking at plans to ensure that the council take a more proactive role in our next " skip day " . We need to bring these departments out of their comfort zones, lose their attitude of " it cant be done " and replace it with the attitude " you have a problem with recycling ? how can we help ?"  One thing that did come out of our project was the negative attitude residents have towards WBC when it comes to recycling and rubbish removal's in general

[Bazj]

1 hour ago, Agamemnon1 said:

 One thing that did come out of our project was the negative attitude residents have towards WBC when it comes to recycling and rubbish removal's in general

That doesn't surprise me in the slightest. The reason why they have started to charge for green waste disposal is obviously they have found a loop-hole that allows them to do it and as the figures on the take up of the chargeable service show, the majority of the people in the town aren't interested in it if it isn't "free" (which of course it isn't as we have been paying for it for years and if anyone says otherwise they have to admit that the council were doing something for free, which as we all know is complete bunkem)

[Freeborn John]

11 hours ago, Evil Sid said:

But if you cannot get a large item in your car then what you are supposed to do is call the council to arrange pick up for which the council now charge a fee, unless it is white goods which are free. All other items are charged at £20.00 for three items with an extra fee of £6.67 per item for just two more items. so for five large items it would cost you £33.34.

that would cover a three piece suite and a carpet and a wardrobe for example, after that you have to start again so if you are clearing a house of all furniture it could run out at nearly £200 for you to get the council to get  rid of the items. A skip is  alot cheaper but unless you can get it onthe property and away from the neighbours you end up with half the streets junk dumped in it.

Sadly, I believe that many of the towns scrag ends would much rather lob their unwanted items over the back wall than blow £33.34 of their beer and fag money on arranging to have it taken away.

[Dizzy]

15 hours ago, Agamemnon1 said:

Thanks Dizzy. Just one thing i feel should mention, It is Agamemnon1, and not Armagedon1. Although perhaps your version may be more suitable for me. lol.

Ooops sorry and I have no idea why I typed Armagedon1,  now you see why I call myself 'Dizzy' ha ha   

 

17 hours ago, Evil Sid said:

But if you cannot get a large item in your car then what you are supposed to do is call the council to arrange pick up for which the council now charge a fee, unless it is white goods which are free. All other items are charged at £20.00 for three items with an extra fee of £6.67 per item for just two more items. so for five large items it would cost you £33.34.

that would cover a three piece suite and a carpet and a wardrobe for example, after that you have to start again so if you are clearing a house of all furniture it could run out at nearly £200 for you to get the council to get  rid of the items. A skip is  alot cheaper but unless you can get it onthe property and away from the neighbours you end up with half the streets junk dumped in it.

 

Fair point and yes it could be costly.  From memory when my dad got rid of his 3 and 2 seater settees (unfortunately local charity shops wouldn't take them as I think they were quite full of stock at the time) so he used the councils paid for service.  I seem to remember he had to ring and pay up front by debit card and was then given a date for collection the next week or so as they only collected on certain days in certain areas.  He was also required to put the two settees out on that given day at the bottom of his drive for the collectors.   A bit hard for a person on their own to carry two settees so he blagged it on the day and the gents collecting did actually carry them out of the house for him...although I'm sure they are not really supposed to.   Nice of them to do that for him though :D

I offered to take them to the tip for him though which would have been free as I'd have got them in Mr Dizzy's car after a bit of modification to them with a saw and heavy hammer.  We easily got our old one to the tip doing it that way as it;s surprising just how little there is to a 3 peice suite when you start to dissect it.  He wouldn't let me though as the councils collectors at the time were a company who were based in Manchester (I think) and goods that they collected that were still half decent with life left in them were then sold in their 'stores' cheap to people who were in need.

I remember thinking at the time though that if this company were collecting and then selling on the collected goods did the council also give them money that was charged by then [the council) for the collection.

Anyway I;m rambling.....there are loads of charity shop who take goods, even electrical ones if they are still working.   Most will also collect larger items of furniture.  There are also many local online facebook groups and sites where you can easily get rid of unwanted items for free or even sell them and make a few quid.  

There is simply NO need for anyone to dump things on the streets or anywhere else..... like I said before it's just bloody lazyness.

[asperity]

You're right Dizzy, and when you think about it the idle buggers must have transport available to get the stuff to their chosen dump site, so they could just as easily take it to the dump (unless they're actually dumping it in their own street!)

[asperity]

On 13/04/2017 at 8:42 AM, Agamemnon1 said:

Thanks Dizzy. Just one thing i feel should mention, It is Agamemnon1, and not Armagedon1. Although perhaps your version may be more suitable for me. lol.

Dyslexia Rules KO!