Rubbish Collection Days to Change

Rubbish and recycling collection days are about to change in Havering to make the service more efficient.

The changes come into operation on Monday 4 October and will affect the vast majority of residents. Collections will remain weekly.

Every home will receive a letter (even if their collection day remains the same) in mid to late September confirming their collection day. Collection rounds in Havering have not changed for more than 15 years. The rescheduling will make collections considerably more efficient and will reflect the changes in the borough.

The borough is being divided into five areas, each with its own collection day. By focusing on a particular area each day, there will be a reduction in vehicle travelling distances meaning trucks will be on the streets for less time. This more efficient working means savings on time, fuel and it will be easier to respond to any issues that may arise.

The new changes will mean that all residents will have to ensure their black refuse and orange recycling bags are left out by 7am on collection day (even if their collection day has not changed). This is because the times of collection will be changing as a result of the rescheduling. Sacks should be placed on your property next to the street. They should not be left on the pavement, grass verges or around trees or lamp posts as this can contribute to litter and cause obstructions.

All residents, schools and managing agents of blocks of flats will receive a letter notifying them of their collection day, however those with access to the internet are able to check their collection day by entering their postcode and house number on the Council website: www.havering.gov.uk

"All residents need to do is to look out for the letter which will tell them what their collection day will be."

There will be no change in collection days for trade waste container customers and the garden waste wheelie bin collections will not be changed either.

You can check your collection day by clicking on this link to our postcode checker page.

For more general information about our waste and recycling services click on this link.

StreetCare Matters, but not in Collier Row !

Kevin Tonks and Denis Stevens have been out and about in the ward recently, meeting residents and discussing their biggest complaints at present, StreetCare and the lack of it.

In particular, the large amount of pot holes that have opened up on our roads like small craters on the moon, well to be honest, some are not that small.

Kevin Tonks said “The down side of any cold spell is the snow and water turns into ice. This then runs through any cracks or pot holes and gets under the road surface. When this freezes again, it expands and blows the road surface out, hence an instant pot hole”.

“These are always made worse by roads that are not well maintained. You are able to tell if a road is looked after by the amount of pot holes in it, the more holes the more neglect”.

Denis Stevens said “Three of the worst roads are Burland Road, Highfield and Hillrise Roads. These are not by any means the only roads, just three that we have found that have more holes in than a bag of Hoola Hoops, there is dozens of them”.

Cllr Mann, Kevin and Denis have all reported dozens of pot holes in the last two months as they continue to appear. We all call on this Conservative Administration to stop spending all their Capital money in Harold Hill and their new priority areas and to start spending more in Havering Park Ward. Of a recent Capital spend of £4 million, over half was spent in just two wards in Harold Hill, with the rest being shared amongst the other 16 wards in Havering !

Refuse Collection back to Normal

Refuse collections are now operating to the normal schedule, ie collections due on Monday will be made today.

However, as many residents may not be aware of this, Havering refuse collectors are also trying to catch up on collecting refuse that was left out last Friday and Saturday.

In order that the collection crews can collect the volume of refuse that will be presented, for one week only both black sacks and recycling sacks will be collected by the same vehicle. After one week, the separate waste and recycling collections will run as normal.

The Green Waste Collection Service will also be suspended until the week beginning Monday 18 January.

If you have excess green waste that cannot be contained in the wheelie bin, please present this is an open container or untied sack alongside your green bin and this will be collected.

Havering Council Rubbish Collections

Refuse collection dates over the Christmas and New Year period will be subject to change. This pages gives full details together with information on the wheeled bin garden waste service and opening times of Gerpins Lane reuse and recycling centre.

Your new Collection day will be as follows:

Thursday 24th December - Collections as normal
Christmas Day - Tuesday 29th December
Monday 28th December -Wednesday 30th December
Tuesday 29th December -Thursday 31st December
Wednesday 30th December - Saturday 2nd January
Thursday 31st December - Monday 4th January
Friday 1st January - Tuesday 5th January
Monday 4th January - Wednesday 6th January
Tuesday 5th January - Thursday 7th January
Wednesday 6th January - Friday 8th January
Thursday 7th January - Saturday 9th January
Friday 8th January - Monday 11th January
Monday 11th January - Tuesday 12th January
Tuesday 12th January - Wednesday 13th January
Wednesday 13th January - Thursday 14th January
Thursday 14th January - Friday 15th January
Friday 15th January - Saturday 16th January

Normal collections resume Monday 18 January 2010.

Please note: The above dates also apply to clinical, cardboard and trade waste collections.
Bulky items collections (household furniture and large items) will cease on Christmas Eve and will resume on the 18 January 2010.

Wheeled Bin Garden Waste Service:
Customers of the Wheeled Bin Garden Waste Collection service should note that collections of this service cease between 22 December and 4 January. Collections resume Tuesday 5 January on the normal scheduled day (please see garden waste calendars for these dates).

All orange recycling sacks and sacks of domestic waste should be placed on the boundary of properties nearest the road by 7am on collection day.

Additional orange sacks can be collected free of charge from Havering Town Hall in Main Road Romford, local libraries or from the Public Advice and Service Centre in The Liberty Shopping Centre, Romford.

Gerpins Lane RRC Opening:
For opening times of Gerpins Lane Reuse & Recycling Centre, Upminster over the festive period please click here.

For more information on reducing and recycling waste and saving money over Christmas see Christmas Recycling Information article.

Further Information:
For further information on the refuse collection and other services including the disposal of bulky household items, call StreetCare on 01708 432563, e-mail: waste-team@havering.gov.uk

Havering Weather Warnings

Severe weather may continue to affect some services today, Tuesday 22 December. Regular information and updates are available on Havering Councils Website. They have links to other useful websites, such as travel, weather and StreetCare information.

Severe Winter Weather Conditions Questions and Answers from Havering Council

Gritting
The Council has a limited supply of grit and salt available for severe winter weather such as what we are experiencing now. This is not enough to treat every footway and road in the entire borough therefore gritting is prioritised as follows.

Roads
In the instance of severe winter weather the first areas to be gritted will be main roads and bus routes. This is to ensure essential services can still operate within the main road network. Priority 1 roads have been treated continuously over the last 5 days. Priority 2 areas include schools however this is not the case during school holidays.

A full list of priority one routes are shown in the winter service plan which can be found on the council website at http://www.havering.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1024

Footpaths
In the instance of severe winter weather footpaths in high footfall areas such as stations, schools, high streets will be treated as priority 2 after the major road network.

Service Requests
For all icy and snow related service requests please direct these through the StreetCare call centre on 01708 432563. They will deal with these requests in order of priority.

Salt Bins
Salt bins located in the roads are for use by Street Cleansing Operatives and are NOT for the personal use of residents.

What’s happening with Domestic Waste Collections ?
Domestic waste collections are continuing on the normal collection routes however there are a large number of side roads in the borough which the vehicles are unable to access due to icy roads and footways. These collections will be put on a priority list so that once the road becomes accessible again the service vehicles will resume the collection.

Christmas Waste collection schedule
Every year due to the bank holiday season the domestic waste collection schedules change for a short period of time. Please refer to the Havering website for full details of the changes to the schedules affecting your street. If severe weather conditions continue over the Christmas period then these seasonal waste collection dates will likely change again, however residents will be made aware of any changes on the Council’s website. http://www.havering.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4580

Advice
The Council’s advice to residents is to avoid travelling either by foot or by car, the roads and footways are very icy and due to limited supplies of grit and salt the Council is unable to treat every footway and road in the borough. Severe weather conditions are being experienced across the country causing grit stock replenishment to take longer than expected to arrive.

Click here for more info, or on the info panel at the top.

New Recycling Schemes comes to Collier Row

A recycling collection trial that resulted in big increase in the usual amount of orange sacks and cardboard being collected, will become a permanent service and expand to cover more of the borough on Monday 3 August. The trial began in November and enabled 25,000 residents to recycle more materials in parts of Elm Park, Upminster, Cranham, Hornchurch and Rainham.

The improved service involves collecting orange sacks (including cardboard) and refuse sacks in different vehicles on the same day each week. This will now be rolled out to most of Collier Row, who missed out on being part of the scheme last year. Residents will receive a letter informing them if their property is covered by the new service. The remainder of the borough will be included in November.

A further three dedicated recycling vehicles will be introduced at the beginning of August and more vehicles being introduced in November.

Orange recycling sacks and flattened cardboard will be collected in one vehicle and the rubbish sacks in another on the same day each week. Yellow pages directories can now go in the orange recycling sacks.

More than 1,600 tonnes of orange sacks and cardboard were collected in the first 19 weeks of the trial. This equates to 90 tonnes per week compared to an average of 20 tonnes in the same area before the trial was launched.

The collection process has contributed to increasing the percentage of household waste recycled and composed to more than 27 per cent in 2008/9. It is expected that once the trial is rolled out, the recycling and composting rate could rise to 36 per cent.

For more information see the Council website: http://www.havering.gov.uk/recyclingOr call 01708 432563.

Chase Cross Road Closed

Chase Cross Road, in Collier Row will be closed Eastbound, on the 16th, the 17th and the 20th July for major resurfacing works between the hours of 09.30 and 4.00pm.

Local diversions will take you down Gobions Avenue and Havering Road and are best advice is to avoid the area unless you need to travel that way.

The road is being resurfaced as part of the Councils Capital funded programme and follows numerous complaints from you Residents Association and local residents about the state of the carriageway, particularly outside the shops.

Graffiti painted out by Offenders

Young offenders had to paint over a wall covered in graffiti in Hainault Road, Collier Row in a project organised by Havering Council recently.

The group of half a dozen offenders from Havering had to do the work on Saturday as part of their Community Reparation. The location was chosen after complaints from local people about graffiti vandalism.

The Council supervised the work along with Police officers from the Mawneys Safer Neighbourhoods Team. The Council also supplied the paint and brushes.

Mawneys Ward Action Member, Graham Price (pictured above inspecting recent graffiti in the ward) said "It is good news that young offenders are working to clean up the local streets after committing offences, they learn a lesson and the community benefit from the work".

StreetCare fined £10,000

The London Borough of Havering has been fined £10,000 after an employee of its Street Care Department struck an 11,000 volt cable buried in the pavement with a hydraulic breaker.

The employee suffered flash burns and electric shock during the accident which occurred on Main Road, Romford in December 2007. The worker, who was untrained, was using the hydraulic breaker to dig holes for the installation of a new bench.

Havering pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9,810 at City of London Magistrates Court.

John Crookes, Health and Safety Executive inspector, said: "This incident could have been fatal. London Borough of Havering failed to provide a safe system of work as a result of which a temporary council worker was injured."

Click HERE for details of our original story, when the incident first happened.

Havering in Bloom

Residents in Havering are being urged to enter this year’s Havering In Bloom competition. As one of the greenest boroughs in London, the Havering in Bloom competition is always hotly contested.

There are 11 categories in the competition which means it is well and truly open to all residents, from gardeners with beautiful window boxes and container boxes to the best community garden and the most beautiful front garden.

The pub and restaurant which produce the best displays for the passing public will be honoured and there is an award for the best business premises, which could cover anything from an office building to a garage forecourt. The awards also include best school hanging basket and best school grounds.

The basket winner will be involved in creating and planting baskets next Spring which will be displayed in South street, Romford. The school grounds award will be given, not just for areas that are attractive and well-maintained, but also on the educational use of the grounds for the pupils.

The awards are not just restricted to beautiful displays of flowers and pretty plants – but also to vegetables with prizes going to best allotment site and allotment plot. On the environment front, there is the bio-diversity award which will be awarded to an area which supports the wildlife population and creates habitats which attract new species through the use of plantings, nesting sites, refuges and natural food sources.

Nomination forms can be picked up at local libraries and Council buildings. All entries must be received by 3 July. The awards will be presented to winners at a special presentation ceremony in October.

Cllr Mann said "This competition has been an excellent show case of our residents talents, many of whom take great pride in their gardens, I have been honoured to present awards in the past for this event whilst i was the cabinet member for StreetCare, i only wish the rules allowed me to take part myself".

To coincide with Havering In Bloom, the Council has packets of sunflower seeds to give away to children who want to enter a competition to grow the tallest sunflower in the borough. The Council has seen some fantastic results over recent years and this year is expected to produce the same level of enthusiasm by all who take part.

Sunflowers can be planted between May and early June. To get a packet of seeds contact maria.smart@havering.gov.uk

Easter Refuse Collection dates

Havering Council has announced amended dates for refuse and recycling collection over the Easter holiday.

Revised collection days are:

Good Friday, 10 April - Saturday 11 April
Easter Monday, 13 April - Tuesday 14 April
Tuesday 14 April - Wednesday 15 April
Wednesday 15 April - Thursday 16 April
Thursday 16 April - Friday 17 April
Friday 17 April - Saturday 18 April

From Monday 20 April, collections will be back to normal.

Gerpins Lane Easter Opening Times

Gerpins Lane Reuse and Recycling Centre opening times are as normal, 7.30am until 5.45pm every day.

StreetCare savings exposed

Cllr Andy Mann, (Residents Association, Havering Park Ward) has hit out at the secretive manner in which Havering’s Cabinet member for StreetCare and the Council have acted with a £330k thousand saving in this years budget.

The savings proposal was put up by StreetCare as part of this year’s Council Tax proposals and despite numerous requests for information over the last 2 months to give more details, Council Officers have been both vague and slow in coming forward with the full details.

Maybe there was good reason for the secretive behaviour, as despite making press comments about how much extra they were investing in StreetCare, Cllr Mann has discovered the truth behind what services they are cutting to make their savings.

To make the £330k saving, StreetCare is getting rid of over 20 vehicles and trailers from its fleet, which in itself is not too bad; however many of them are front line street sweeping vehicles.
The full reduction of the fleet includes, 3 No, 3.5ton small cage tippers, 2 No, pedestrian applied sweepers, 5 No, small Mechanical sweepers, 3 No, linkpacker 7.5t vehicles, 4 No, small Trailers, 2, No Highways tippers.

Cllr Mann has now managed to extract the information from Officers after 2 months of waiting, he said “I can understand reducing the fleet by taking out a few trailers and a few older vehicles; however the reduction of seven sweeping machines and the three linkpackers, which are used for collecting fly tips is not acceptable. At no time during the scrutiny process of the Councils budget, was there any mention of the drastic cut in front line services”.

Cllr Mann, who was formerly the Cabinet Member for StreetCare at Havering was responsible for bring in many of the vehicles in one of the biggest fleet purchases in 20 years, with over £2 million spent across five years to upgrade the service an improve cleansing standards. It has been suggested that four new vehicles will be purchased, however this will only happen once the Council has finished its new StreetCare depot.

Cllr Mann continued, “It is time for the Administration to be honest and upfront with its plans, what is the point of trying to sneak through such savings in its budget without proper consultation, when was a single resident asked if they would like to see a reduction of street cleansing in the Borough, our own research shoes people want more of it, not less”

Untaxed cars - CRUSHED

Havering Council has now crushed 100 vehicles since it hired a new contractor to get tough on people who don't tax their cars. Over 240 untaxed cars have been towed away since the new contractor started in September last year and now the 100th vehicle has met its fate, recently being crushed.

Havering Council appointed a new contractor which uses automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) equipment to identify untaxed vehicles within seconds. Abandoned vehicles can also be identified and removed before they become vandalised.

Two ANPR-equipped vehicles are patrolling the borough scanning streets and car parks. Once a vehicle is identified, the contractor will seek the authority of the DVLA to lift the vehicle onto a recovery truck and take it to a pound. The new contractor is now removing on average 40 vehicles a month.

To reclaim their vehicles, owners will have to pay a minimum of £100 plus a surety of £160 or show a valid tax disc. If the owner fails to claim their car after 14 days, the DVLA can give approval for it to be crushed.

Cllr Andy Mann, the former Cabinet Member for StreetCare (pictured above) who first introduced car crushing in Havering, some four years ago said “lots of residents get annoyed when they see cars without a tax disc, and now drivers will need to act more responsibly are they will loose their car. Untaxed cars often have no insurance or an M.O.T and have been used for criminal activity”

The owner can verify a removed vehicle's location by contacting http://www.trace.com/ or phone 020 7747 4747. The contact telephone number for the pound is 01702 469 449.

The charges for recovering an untaxed vehicle are:

Within 24 hours of removal - £100, plus a surety of £160 or a valid tax disc
After 24 hours of removal - £200, plus a surety of £160 or a valid tax disc
Storage is charged at £21 per day from the third day after removal

Street Surgery in Collier Row

The Collier Row & Mawneys Residents Association were out and about in Collier Row today, meeting and talking to local residents about their issues and concerns with Havering Council. All six action members were present, from the Mawneys Ward team; we had Graham & Karen Price and Joe Webster. The Havering Park team were also out in force, with Cllr Andy Mann, Denis Stevens and Kevin Tonks.

The main topic of conversation amongst residents was the lack of activity from StreetCare, particularly after they had made numerous complaints and still got no answer or action from complaints. In particular this involved, pot holes and road maintenance, lack of street sweeping and street lights not working.

Other topics included issues with Homes in Havering, including the CCTV charge that residents have to pay, even if they have do not have CCTV coverage in their road.

Cllr Mann said “It is great to be out and about in our Wards, listening to what residents want and how their every day lives are affected by Havering Council”.

Missed Refuse Collections

Biffa, Havering Council's waste collector will be operating today to catch up on any missed collections from this week, any waste not collected on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, will be collected, today, Saturday.

Collections that should have been made on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd February, will be made on Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th February. They will clear all household rubbish and recycling presented on these days.

Collections for the wheeled bin garden waste collection service will continue as usual and bins that were supposed to be collected on Tuesday will be cleared throughout the week.

How are Havering's Roads Gritted

Cllr Andrew Mann, who was Havering's Cabinet Member for StreetCare for three years, gives an overview of how the gritting operation works in Havering. During his time as the Cabinet Member, he spent a night out with one of the crews seeing how the whole operation works (pictured above at the salt store during loading, pre diet I have to say)

This week's extreme weather conditions saw Havering Council bring into operation its most extensive road gritting programme for over 15 years.

The Council has five gritting vehicles. Usually four vehicles operate, with one spare. This week during the heavy snowfalls all five operated. The grit is loaded at the Councils small depot in Rainham Road, the vehicles and the JCB needed to load them, are all kept at the Purfleet Depot.

During periods of heavy snow and ice, StreetCare suspend road sweeping and staff switch to gritting important pedestrian areas, such as shops, school entrances, old peoples homes. Teams of staff from Parks, will use grit to clear entrance roads and paths around some of the bigger parks, see picture below of staff at Bedfords Park on Monday.

Prioritising roads

The total length of roads in Havering is 618 km, excluding trunk roads where gritting is carried out by Transport for London (TfL) and The Highways Agency. The total length of priority one roads is approximately 288 km. This is approximately 47% of the Boroughs roads. In Havering the only roads covered by TfL are the A12, A13 and A127. The Highways Agency is responsible for the M25.

Gritting operations during the night of Sunday 1st / Monday 2 February, the night of heaviest snowfall, the gritting crews put down 125 tonnes of salt – the most they have put down in 15 years. A normal night would see 20 to 30 tonnes. All five of Havering’s gritting vehicles were out, with crews started gritting a 5pm on Sunday and worked until 5am Monday. A new team carried on the operation from 7am.

Roads are gritted in the following priority order:

Main roads and bus routes including the accesses to emergency service centres. Gritters will only move onto other roads once these roads are clear.

Highways to essential industrial establishments, mainline and underground stations, bus garages, shopping centres and pedestrian areas.

Other commuter routes.

Single accesses to schools.

Residential roads and footways.

Roads to single premises.

For more information about Havering Council's Snow Plan click on the following link. http://www.havering.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=11637&p=0

Christmas Waste Collection Dates

Refuse collection dates over the Christmas and New Year period will be subject to change. Below is the revised collection details, for more infor click on this link for further details together with information on the wheeled bin garden waste service and opening times of Gerpins Lane reuse and recycling centre.

Christmas & New Year Collection Dates 2008/09

Normal Collection Dates Revised Collection Dates

Wednesday 24th December -- Collections as normal
Christmas Day -- Saturday 27th December
Boxing Day -- Monday 29th December
Monday 29th December -- Tuesday 30th December
Tuesday 30th December -- Wednesday 31st December
Wednesday 31st December -- Friday 2nd January
New Year's Day -- Saturday 3rd January
Friday 2nd January -- Monday 5th January
Monday 5th January -- Tuesday 6th January
Tuesday 6th January -- Wednesday 7th January
Wednesday 7th January -- Thursday 8th January
Thursday 8th January -- Friday 9th January
Friday 9th January -- Saturday 10th January

Normal collections resume Monday 12th January 2009.

Please note: The above dates also apply to clinical, cardboard and trade waste collections.
Wheeled Bin Garden Waste Service:

Customers of the Wheeled Bin Garden Waste Collection service should note that collections of this service cease between 23rd December and 5th January. Collections resume Tuesday 6th January on the normal scheduled day (please see garden waste calendars for these dates).

All orange recycling sacks and sacks of domestic waste should be placed on the boundary of properties nearest the road by 7am on collection day.

Additional orange sacks can be collected free of charge from Havering Town Hall in Main Road Romford, local libraries or from the Public Advice and Service Centre in The Liberty Shopping Centre, Romford.

KERB STONES

Loose kerb stones are creating a nuisance if not a danger in Rodney Way and the surrounding streets. When these were laid, the shallow kerbs were set on the concrete road base. Over time weathering, vibration, tree roots and pavement parking have taken their toll. The stones have come loose and are finishing up in the road creating a hazard particularly to cyclists.

Mawneys Team Member, Joe Webster (pictured above) has alerted StreetCare to the problem several weeks ago but as yet nothing has been done. Apart from urgent repairs to what is a dangerous situation, the Council should be looking to next years StreetCare budget for some planned maintenance in Mawneys Ward. There was nothing in this year's.