Rubbish collection issue Clare Gardens

Hello all,

As you may have noticed the door to door rubbish collection was resumed last week after CERA met with the Council, SUEZ (company collecting from the street) and OCS team (company collecting from our bins outside our front door).

Why the service was stopped?

SUEZ, the company historically collecting the rubbish outside our doors stopped the service two years ago, following an internal Health & Safety assessment.

The Council at the time agreed with OCS to continue the service at the Council expense.

In January 2021 the Council emailed OCS managers asking to stop the service of collection.

However no communication was sent to residents.

What will happen in the near future?

The Council has no budget to continue the service carried out by OCS.

The Council intend propose solutions to residents and currently has 3 options:

1) Residents takes their rubbish to the main street themselves - Blenheim Crescent SUEZ collection points.

2) OCS team continue to collect the rubbish and take it to the main street for us at a cost. This cost will be recharged to residents and is yet to be known. It may also change in future as management costs are going up every year.

3) Installations of large bins at the entrances of the estate. This will be similar to Lowerwood Court Recycling bins and is likely to attract mice, smell and general degradation of the entraces.

Moreover, the estate may see additional fly tipping from local residents and large items left at the entrances of Clare Gardens Blenheim Crescent. This may create an additional cost in both cleaning and waste collection.

What the CERA is doing about it?

CERA representaive for Clare Gardens alongside other residents are putting together a petition to ensure the Council finds a budget for the collection. This can be achieved by re-negotiating OCS contract to include Door to Door Collection and exclude non essential activities.

We are also exploring the relationship between OCS team using the Lowerwood court room as storage area for the entire Colville Ward where they operate. This means that they use the room as the main hub and store cleaning materials used for cleaning done outside our Estate.

Please get in touch if you wish to know more or help us in creating a united voice for Clare Gardens.

Thank you

Co-Chair of CERA