Agenda item

6.1

One public question was received from Mishanth Feinstein and was read out by the Principal Democratic Services Officer:

Q: As we made clear to Councillor and Chair of the committee Joe Otten when we visited him in Dore and when he visited us in Darnall, the rubbish and fly-tipping problem in Darnall is out of control and desperately needs addressing by the council. While the community makes great effort with initiatives such as community litter picking, the problem is now far beyond these efforts and as Joe recognised help from the council is sorely needed. Specifically, much of the fly-tipping is caused by the fact that there is no dumping area or skips in Darnall, leaving little option for those who cannot afford a lengthy car journey. There is also a clear shortage of bins both on main roads, in which overflowing bins are a regular sight, and on the back streets of Darnall, in which there are barely any bins at all.

Thus our question to the committee is this - will they consider implementing our demands which we feel are desperately needed:

?       8 new skips around Darnall

?       Bin collection increased to at least once a week

?       More public bins across Darnall

?       Area wide clean up days twice per month

?       Fly tipping warning signs in various languages

A full demand letter has been given to Councillor and Chair Joe Otten

The Chair responded with the following answer:

·       In respect of your questions on increased provision of bins, collections and skips in the area for waste removal, we will follow up on that with a written answer in the new year, as we need to retrieve and collate some information on current bin usage and flytipping incidents in the area, before answering your question fully.

·       A number of flytipping hotspot sites in Darnall have been reviewed this year in conjunction with Cllrs and proposals are being costed to install deterrent measures this financial year. There is up to £57k to spend on protecting these sites in the East LAC. We also have more than 10 of the latest mobile cctv cameras being used in hotspots across the city to catch people flytipping predominantly from cars where a vehicle registration can be identified and more than a hundred fpns have been served as a result since these went in.   

·       The East LAC produced a waste information leaflet that Cllrs and council staff delivered to 600 properties in the Darnall area, as part of their day of action on litter. Leaflets are provided in community settings, library, schools etc. There are alternative waste options for people with no access to transport.

·       The LAC chair Cllr Mary Lea and the LAC manager Huda Ahmed visited High Hazels Academy’s Headteacher, and met with around 50 parents living in Darnall, to listen to the parents, talk about litter,  and the importance of reporting fly tipping, and preventive measures

·       The LAC are working with the Business Advisor for Darnall, he’s met with local businesses, and they are working on putting an ERF (Economic Recovery Fund) bid together , some of this money will ‘if successful’ be used on ‘ Keep Darnall Tidy ‘ campaigns  and lots more.

·       There is an East LAC Environment, Highways, and Transport working group that Cllr Zahir Naz chairs  (Staniforth Rd is mentioned regularly). They have had a quote from SCC contract officers on how much it would cost for extra more frequent Road sweeps on Staniforth Rd , and some of the side roads.  Ward Cllrs will be discussing if local LAC money can be used to fund the extra road sweeps.

·       Cllr Mary Lea, and other relevant officers e.g., housing have had other more targeted walkabouts, most recent was on the Greenland estate

·       In September SCC delivered a bin collection calendar to all houses in Darnall.  As well as explaining how to use the bin services, it also sets out the other waste services available including bulky waste collections, and HWRCs.  The leaflet also provides a weblink and QR code to help/prompt residents to report litter/flytipping issues. We hope this will reduce flytipping as people better understand the waste collection services.

·       In April, following specific complaints, SCC officers recorded/actioned waste issues observed along sections of Main Road (214 – 236) and Staniforth Road (596 – 660) - this included addressing a small number of missing/overloaded and contaminated bins, as well as arranging Duty of Care visits to address some trade waste concerns.  On a general note we take robust enforcement action where there is flytipping if there is evidence and we work with lots of businesses re their trade waste.

·       We have a Slovak language waste video which is available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F19y67RfhM and also a Slovak language leaflet, which provides information regarding bin collections and bulky waste.  Although developed in conjunction with the Page Hall team for the Page Hall area, the information is relevant for Slovak speakers living in other areas of Sheffield.  The English version of the Slovak language leaflet is also available.

·       Although where possible we look to use pictorial materials to deliver waste messages, if language is identified as an issue and the community group has specific languages in mind, we can produce other translated videos/other materials.  There is a cost to this though and so we just need to make sure there is a need for the translation, and understand how we can target the appropriate areas/people – e.g. via the community group, or email circulation lists/social media etc.

The Food waste trail was also referred to. Cllr Mark Jones raised some points and concerns around language barrier. Cllr Otten pointed out that the request from ACORN was around the use of multiple languages for inclusivity and further intended work was stated.