Pavements which are never cleared

[ab29]

State of the pavements across Southwark council

[Sue]

23 minutes ago, ab29 said:

State of the pavements across Southwark council

Are you talking about leaves?

This complaint comes up every year.

The problem is with the trees. It's Autumn! The trees  keep dropping their leaves! Blame the trees, not the council! 

As soon as someone clears away the leaves, those pesky  trees drop some more!

Basically, the council can't provide people to clear leaves from every street in the area every day, or anywhere near that frequency, I imagine.

Don't worry. Once the trees have shed all their leaves, we will be into the season of frost and ice! 

And btw I don't think this should be in the "What's on in East Dulwich" section, should it? 

Edited Monday at 20:09 by Sue

[ab29]

Not sure. Just felt sorry for a half-blind lady. Might be me one day.

I see a cleaning guy every day on my way to work near Horniman museum - around 06:15am - how come Southwark council can't provide the same, what with the money wasted on LTN and so on?

"And btw I don't think this should be in the "What's on in East Dulwich" section, should it? " - yes, number one problem.

Edited Tuesday at 09:09 by Joe
Now moved to General ED

[Sue]

The General ED Issues section?

Southwark Council does employ street cleaners. It's just not true to say "pavements which  are never cleared".

In the Autumn they bag the fallen leaves up and leave them on the pavements to be collected. I expect they are composted.

But you surely can't expect to see a street cleaner every day in every street? The cost would be  enormous.

And sorry as I am for people with disabilities, anybody can slip on leaves. My partner broke his ankle last year after slipping on leaves on a pavement in Lewisham. He was on crutches for months.

He didn't blame Lewisham council for not having removed the leaves before he got there.

[Jenijenjen]

Southwark Derangement Syndrome strikes again

[Nigello]

If you’re able and have a build up of rotting leaves outside/very close to your home you really ought to brush them into the street at least, or pick them up and chuck them away. Same goes for litter that’s missed by street litter pickets. Too easy to say “the council ought to do it”. Be civil and civic-minded! 

[Rockets]

I sense, because of the budget challenges the council are facing, that they have reduced the amount of street cleaning. It seemed last year that, Lordship Lane, for example, they wanted to let the majority of leaves fall before clearing them.

[alice]

Aren’t there thousands of traffic warden sitting around with no CPZ s? couldn’t they be redirected?

[rjsmall]

The slight issue with expecting residents to clear the leaves is they need somewhere to put them - perhaps the council could provide a bin or disposal scheme for green waste such as this 😄

[Sue]

2 minutes ago, rjsmall said:

The slight issue with expecting residents to clear the leaves is they need somewhere to put them - perhaps the council could provide a bin or disposal scheme for green waste such as this 😄

Exactly.

It now costs £40 to buy 20 paper bags from the council to put garden waste etc in, if you don't have a need for (or space for) a permanent brown bin.

And it seems you can't buy less than 20 at a time.

They used to be free from the library.

[ianr]

The optimal solution might be for neighbours to co-operate, by each doing part clearance, and sharing and contributing toward the brown bins of those who do have them.  The leaves can be tamped down when in the bins, and tend to diminish in volume over a few days anyway.  Any brown bags , or even poly sacks, that people do have can be used as temporary storage between bin collections.

PS:  And/or ask the council if they would provide their own robust collection bags to  select volunteer householders, on the understanding that residents will fill them with street leaves, stack them for collection, and return any left-overs?

 

Edited Tuesday at 20:18 by ianr

[sebastiondangerfield]

It’s shocking, why do them trees drop their leaves in East Dulwich?

[Sue]

44 minutes ago, ianr said:

The optimal solution might be for neighbours to co-operate, by each doing part clearance, and sharing and contributing toward the brown bins of those who do have them.  The leaves can be tamped down when in the bins, and tend to diminish in volume over a few days anyway.  Any brown bags , or even poly sacks, that people do have can be used as temporary storage between bin collections.

PS:  And/or ask the council if they would provide their own robust collection bags to  select volunteer householders, on the understanding that residents will fill them with street leaves, stack them for collection, and return any left-overs?

 

Good ideas!

1 minute ago, sebastiondangerfield said:

It’s shocking, why do them trees drop their leaves in East Dulwich?

It's just to annoy ab29  🤣

[KalamityKel]

Southwark Council does have a schedule specifically for leaves - https://www.southwark.gov.uk/parking-streets-and-transport/street-care/autumn-leaf-collection (mind boggles!)

As always you can report street "rubbish" via their online form but have found, from personal experience, their new website and forms don't quite connect up well.

If you see an area that is becoming dangerous - wet leaves are slippery after all etc - keep reporting to the council. Keep reporting.

[first mate]

Looking at the list link posted by KK (thank you), I cannot see mention of Lordship Lane? However, it says Dulwich Village and Dulwich Common? So does this mean that a main road in the wealthiest part of the borough gets leaf fall cleared but Lordship Lane does not? It looks as though leaves on many residential streets will not be cleared at all? 

I rarely see residents clearing leaves, do we need a campaign to get this going?

[Jenijenjen]

The link is to an excel spreadsheet that has 6 tabs, each representing the 6 upcoming weeks. LL has been divided into 3 parts where leaf collection is scheduled to be carried out in separate weeks.

[Rockets]

And I think therein lies one of the challenges - it appears (part of) Lordship Lane (and one presumes the part is the high street part) only gets it's first collection of the autumn on November 11th which may explain why, last year for example, there was such a problem with leaves as so many have fallen by then. Perhaps the council should prioritise high footfall streets as a matter of urgency. 

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

6 hours ago, first mate said:

So does this mean that a main road in the wealthiest part of the borough gets leaf fall cleared but Lordship Lane does not?

Truly a sign of #southwarkderangementsyndrome when you misunderstand how a spreadsheet works and immediately leap to the conclusion that the council is engaged in an anti-poor leaf-clearing conspiracy.

[Penguin68]

Actually, pavements are cleaned, though not necessarily at the frequency some would wish.

We are very lucky in ED to live in tree lined streets (municipal or private trees) - apparently good for air quality and certainly aesthetically pleasing - but the downside is 4 weeks in autumn when pavements can be tricky (and when the awful silent step of leaf conceal dog poo is ever present).

Considering the pressure on local authority finances, limited road sweeping is perhaps all we can afford; I'd suggest trying to live with it for the advantages for the remaining 48 weeks of our trees (even out of leaf they are stark and beautiful).

[first mate]

2 hours ago, Dogkennelhillbilly said:

Truly a sign of #southwarkderangementsyndrome when you misunderstand how a spreadsheet works and immediately leap to the conclusion that the council is engaged in an anti-poor leaf-clearing conspiracy.

Yeah, okay DKHB, point made. However, I have not seen the same level of leaf drop, as in lying on pavements, in DV as around ED and I don't think we have more trees. Perhaps it is just that DV pavements are cleared earlier.

Edited 7 hours ago by first mate

[SpringTime]

Clear them yourselves, you greedy and lazy little Canutes. Do your job as a human, or pay and complain whilst living in a zoo.

Edited 4 hours ago by SpringTime

[first mate]

I am all for residents clearing leaves, see my earlier post. But most won't. A few of us do. Do you?