Response from Ealing Councillor Bassam Mahfouz - Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport & Leisure

I received this email from Councillor Mahfouz regarding the presenting the petition to Ealing Council. While it does address some concerns, there is clearly much left to be done. In particular, the question why are people suddenly chuck loads more rubbish out on the streets remains unresolved. I would welcome your thoughts and comments. "Dear Michael, Thank you for getting in touch. Having met with my counterparts across west London, all of whom have indicated that there has been an increase in fly-tipping in their boroughs also in recent months. I appreciate your focus on those without front gardens and those who live in flats. We took a very measured approach ahead of moving to the new alternate weekly collection system with wheelie bins, that took into account these sorts of issues. Residents in flats have had no change to their collection service: we still collect weekly. Residents without front gardens do not have wheelie bins and the frequency depends on the collection and what has been agreed in those areas (many are able to store their black bags/recycling in their back gardens ahead of presentation day). The issue with some people who live in flats, particularly those above shops, is that many have been told by landlords/estate agents/previous tenants that their collection offer from the council is that they simply leave their rubbish bag out on the street - any day of the week, and we'll collect it. If, of course, they actually checked on the council website, they would see that they had a specific day of the week when rubbish (and in some cases recycling also) is collected. That's why we put additional crews to educate residents who weren't using the new system properly (across all tenures) and we worked with groups of residents to ensure that we had appropriate solutions, where possible and if there was agreement of the landlord/freeholder. They have been door-knocking and dropping flyers/reminders/calendars through doors across the borough. Over the past year we have been fining residents who litter, spit or put chewing gum on our streets. It's working well and off the back of the increase in fly-tipping across Ealing and London, we were one of the first to adopt the new £400 fine for fly-tipping and we've put on three dedicated crew to tackle it. More on all of the above can be found on my website: www.bassammahfouz.com I hope you will see from the above that we are taking all of the issues seriously and in the round - from the point of view of assistance and collaboration through to prosecution for those who wish to continue dumping on our streets. The move to the new system has worked well in the vast majority of streets across the borough and the benefits for most are clear. We're working hard to ensure that those benefits are universal and happy to work with any residents to ensure that we achieve that. Having already seen a huge increase in our recycling across the borough and having seen how it can work well in multi-tenured neighbouring areas such Brent and Harrow as well as in many other parts of London and the country, I am sure this is the right way forward. Happy to discuss further. Very best wishes, Bassam -- Cllr Bassam Mahfouz Labour Councillor for Northolt West End Ealing Cabinet member for Environment, Transport & Leisure twitter.com/BassamMahfouz www.bassammahfouz.com"