Rough sleepers under SGR rail bridge

Rufus

Anyone else getting fed up with with the increasing piles of filth under the rail bridge that we have to use to get to Finsbury Park tube? Islington Council seems happy to allow giant piles of rubbish to accumulate and to ignore desperate homeless people forced to sleep next to them. The last two mornings have been even worse than normal. Is there anyone we can contact who can actually do something about this?

fabruce

I made few complaints to Haringey council about rubbish everywhere in the ward and i receive a very generic reply saying that everything was checked and looked fine. I also linked the forum in order to give additional information, but they ignored everything. I also pointed out the horrendous situation near finsbury park station and they washed their hands because of that part belonging to Islington (fair enough) I agree that the walk is absolutely filthy, but apparently they will work on improving the railway bridge in the new year, so hopefully it will look better. Anyway the amount of rubbish deposited everywhere in the area (islington or Haringey) has increased quite a lot and councils will not do anything about it. I guess that if several people start complaining consistently about the same things in the same areas, they will not be able to ignore it.

HolbornFox

Islington no longer offer the free bulky collection service, it is a no brainer what is going to happen.

Maximus

With the enormous council cuts, it's no surprise they are washing their hands of the problem - they can't even figure out how to pay for social care, and in a world of priorities, cuts have to be made to the 'less' important things unfortunately.

fabruce

Well i will keep on complaining about the situation and moreover money could be raised from fining fly-tippers, so i don't understand why they don't do it. I will ask the question about cuts and why the standards have dropped so much. At the end of the day we are tax payers and we need to get a reasonable and logical answer.

grenners

Fining fly tippers Fabruce? Are you going to chase after them in the middle of the night?

drjones1517

The Clean Islington app makes reporting a little less onerous (automatically sends the report to Hackney/Haringey councils if one is in their area). iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/clean-islington/id973034642?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=2 android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.organise.islington&hl=en_GB

fabruce

What do you mean Greeners? Stroud Green is full of litter in the same places. It's clear where the problem lies and it wouldn't take too long to identify who is responsible. Sorry i don't understand your tone...What is your solution then?

miss annie

From my observation - I walk under that bridge at least six mornings and nights a week - I can tell you that the rubbish is not fly tipping. It's an accumulation of newspapers, takeaway food wrappers and junk left by various people including the rough sleepers, and the beggars (not all of whom are homeless, one lives in my road). People just chuck rubbish on top of rubbish, I see them doing it.

It's all Islington side, I sent them a photo of it today. SG gentrified? Not when we have to walk through that crapheap.

miss annie

So, in my photo of the biggest pile of rubbish - copies of the Standard and Metro, many cigarette packets, empty plastic bottles, a couple of plastic takeaway milkshake style cups, several blue corner shop carrier bags, a kebab box, miscellaneous bits of paper, a sandwich wrapper and lots of cigarette butts. And what seems to be a bit of blanket. The pile grows every day.

Take your rubbish home or use a bin people.

Sutent

I cant remember how many bins are on that stretch of road. Do you think more bins would help?

miss annie

Probably not. People are increasingly dirty and lazy. We've all seen people throw sweet wrappers, the plastic from a cigarette box etc. on the floor at a bus stop when they are maybe four steps from a bin. People leave half eaten food and chicken bones on buses and dog mess on the street.

I despair.

Ali

Haringey street sweeping is out sourced to Veolia. There must be a contract with Service Level Agreements in it which the council should be holding them to. It would be interesting to see how that Contract is structured. You can find out what day of the week your street is swept here: http://www.veolia.co.uk/haringey/sites/g/files/dvc466/f/assets/documents/2016/11/Day_of_Sweep_2016.pdf The Haringey side of SGR is a daily exercise. It seems there are 2013 streets that get swept every week in Haringey. I have found Veolia quiet good when ever I have dealt with them.

Sutent

I don't remember the Wells Terrace exit of Finsbury park when it was open being too horrendous with rubbish. The double bin outside the Wells Terrace exit was always full. Maybe they should have a large bin in Station Place exit as well. With so many Arsenal matches the Islington council must get lots of money to tidy up the area

Audax

An Islington/Veolia street cleansing lorry (one of those 'scarab' vehicles and accompanying operative on foot, sweeping the pavement) went under the bridges, up SGR last night when I was walking through at about 1930. Only did the Islington side though

drjones1517

All the huge piles of rubbish that were present yesterday afternoon/evening were still there at 2 p.m. today. Have reported them to Haringey via the app and requested that bins be installed.

drjones1517

Islington council only have responsibility for the first couple of metres or so from the Wells terrace end; Haringey have responsibility for the particularly filthy stretch Miss Annie refers to.

fabruce

I was referring to several piles of rubbish everywhere in Stroud Green. In particular there is a nasty spot opposite Vagabond that i have reported several times, and yet several times gets full of rubbish again (according to the council everything is perfectly clean) Fly-tippers or not the laws do exist and officers should enforce the law. I have seen several bin bags under the bridge, so it's not just some rubbish on top of rubbish. But majority of spots are covered with occasional littering. Not to mention the part of Finsbury park between Oxford Road bridge and Rowans...so much litter is hiding in the bushes. Massive praise to volunteers who clear up the area on a regular basis. I simply don't understand why people love to live in the filth. I just don't get it...i might be too strict or inflexible on this, but i find it so unacceptable. I would walk for hours with some rubbish in my sack if there is no bin, and some people are not bothered to walk for 5 seconds !!!

Ali

Where are our councillors on this ?

miss annie

I don't know why people expect that councilors and police should respond here. If they do, great, but try contacting them directly or nip along to the MPs surgeries rather than hoping that they might have time to remember to think about looking at a neighbourhood message board. The majority of residents are not members here and this probably is not an accurate representation of the most pressing issues in the area.

Rufus

The person responsible for (not) cleaning this area is: Tony Montgomery, Senior Street Management Officer, Islington: anthony.montgomery@islington.gov.uk. Phone: 020 7527 7609 Mobile: 07825098766. He claimed this week that an "additional sweep has taken place in the area, which has been monitored by our cleansing manager and completed to the required standard. We have discussed the matter with our team and have made arrangements for the scheduled service to be monitored by our cleansing manager for the next few weeks. If you require any further information please contact me directly." It was slightly better this morning, but this was the first clean since last week.

Ali

Well done Rufus

therattle

Last night (around 7:15) I walked under the bridge and observed that between the Wells Terrace entrance and Station Place there isn't a single bin. Two Islington street cleaners were clearing up the big pile of rubbish near Station Place, and I asked them why. One responded that people used to abuse them - whether by fly-tipping or using them as toilets I don't know. He said that they had just been driving past and decided to stop and clear the mess voluntarily - it hadn't been scheduled. I thought that was really good of them.

fabruce

If we all write to him it would be good
I will do it

marko

I reported the mess on the Islington side using the App and I got a picture a bit later on showing it cleared up. A fair bit of the rubbish is in the vicinity of the rough sleepers and beggars - whether they're responsible, or whether the cleaners simply don't clean up anywhere near them is unclear.

miss annie

I sent them my lovely, detailed close ups photo of the rubbish too.

Sutent

It looked quite clean on my way home last night.

drjones1517

They acted on my five reports from Monday...

miss annie

They had a clean up on Monday.

_Bee

I have been grumbling about this for ages. To my boyfriend, though.

Anyone else notice that there is basically a bedroom set up there now?

drjones1517

yep, looked like two bedrooms set up when I walked past earlier today.