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What we do: our remit is to cover all issues that affect the quality of the local environment. This includes refuse and waste services, traffic and parking, and general street appearance and cleanliness. We are also concerned with the impact of council planning policy in the longer term, and in dealing with specific issues, such road works, and specific local development and building projects. We aim to represent the views of residents on all these issues, and to influence council policy in order to make our local environment a safer, healthier, and generally a more peaceful place to live.
What we have done this year: Thames Water: the big issue this year so far has been the impact of Thames Water and its work to replace the ageing Victorian water mains across London, a project due to continue until 2010. This has had a major impact across most of the area since the start of the year. It is also vital work, badly needed in London which has some of the very oldest water systems in the country. But we think both Thames Water and its two contractors in our area (Skanska and Morrisons) could have done far more to reduce the inconvenience the work has caused for local people. Information has been lacking, timetable dates have been either unclear or simply not available, and generally not enough has been done by both all parties to reduce simple anxieties many residents have had, such as car removal arrangements when people might be away on holiday.
However we have worked hard to represent residents views and make things better for residents. We have established regular contacts with both Thames Water and the Council, and have had excellent support from our local councillors in pursuing our cause. This has resulted in some recent important improvements, such as clearer Council notices and signs, persuading the Council to adopt a more reasonable and consistent approach to handling parking regulations and penalty notices around work areas, and roads being left in a better state of repair when the work has finished.
Other work: We have also been active in establishing a positive dialogue with the council, where we have voiced the concerns (and positive suggestions) of residents on issues across the whole of our remit. In particular, we have had discussions with the council on the recent changes to the refuse arrangements and have sought to influencing the thinking as the Council begin to review the policy, now we have had the first six months of the new scheme. Here, the signs are good in that the Council do seem to be listening to concerns, especially about health and safety issues, and black sack storage. We watch this space in anticipation of further improvements to the service over the coming 12 months.
What we want to do next: The Thames Water project will not be complete in our area until at least mid 2009, according to latest estimates. So this will clearly remain a key priority. We do want to hear from all who may be adversely affected in any way, so we can continue to reduce the inconvenience for residents as much as we can. Other issues for the coming year will include:
Refuse collection arrangements: This includes providing better information about what goes where, black sack storage and tailoring types of bins to individual needs
Recycling policy, fly tipping, organising visits to the recycling plant in Thamesmead
Traffic calming
Noise pollution
Dog policy and dog mess
Street cleaning, litter, graffiti
Tree policy - planting new trees, and maintaining mature street trees wherever possible
Making a difference: we want to work positively with the Council to influence their policy making, but at the same time making sure we fairly represent the collective views of residents. We have made a good start on this, with a regular lines of communication now established with key Council officials and councillors. We hope to take this further, by, for example, receiving early warning about planning applications, and setting up regular meetings with the Council to share information in both directions. We are very keen to hear views from all residents about particular concerns, and we equally welcome any offers of help and support to ensure we grow in strength, and can continue to cover our wide-ranging remit.
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