Ward councillors warn of enforcement action against flytipping and misuse of community bins

Cllrs Currie and Keen, Matt Shoul of ARTRA and residents

Ward councillors in Cliftonville West have met with residents to highlight the continual overflowing of community bins in Athelstan Road due to misuse.

Councillor Alan Currie and Cllr Heather Keen met with residents by the two large bins at the top end of Athelstan Road to raise the issue of continual misuse and fly tipping at the containers.

The  eight bins at each end of the road are intended for use by nearby households which do not have their own rubbish bin due to lack of space because they are in houses of multiple occupation.

Streetscene enforcement staff have put signs in place warning of hefty fines for fly tipping following complaints that the bins are being filled with  trash not necessarily from people living in the street and need emptying at least twice a day. Stickers have also been used stating the bins are for bagged domestic waste only after complaints of trade waste being dumped at the site.

Photo Luke Mclean

Athelstan Road Tenants and Residents Association is calling for alternative solutions to the paladin bins by using individual household bins with collections made via the back alleyway. ARTRA hopes to be able to persuade Thanet council to trial the system.

Cllr Currie said: “Anyone caught fly tipping or using these bins for commercial waste will be heavily fined. The restrictions on use at the Manston rubbish tip have certainly led to more fly tipping and Cliftonville West councillors have requested KCC fully re-open the tip as soon as possible.

Photo Luke Mclean

“Residents that cannot have their own waste bin due to having no space at the front of their property or who live in HMO’s can and should use the nearest large community bin situated to them, the bin is only for bagged domestic waste. The bins are not just for those in that particular road but residents should not drive to these areas to dump their rubbish.

“Enforcement are targeting those dumping commercial waste in the bins or rubbish clearing businesses that seem to be using them while Manston rubbish tip still under restrictive use.”

CCTV is also being used to catch offenders.

Residents in Cliftonville street campaign to get rid of ‘overflowing paladin bins’

7 Comments

  1. The council should have in the past and today ensure that planning conditions were adhered and maintained , that way there would not be the problem of houses and mainly flats having no refuse storage facilities, then they should also deal with residents that don’t put rubbish out on the right day and in the correct containers/bags. That way the bins would not be needed.
    Rubbish in cliftonville has been and endless problem and will continue to be so.

  2. Good Luck with that!
    Why not send a flyer round in all the languages of the Residents living there,
    informing them, and advising them against further offences. Clearly showing FINE amount.
    It might help. Somebody in the Household must be able to read their own language.

    • Robter, you’ve completely miss read the article. The bins are for the local residents! But the local business put their rubbish in them, people from out of the area drive to the bins to dump stuff they don’t need! The bins are not being abused by the residents but by everyone else!

    • The only real engagement the council ever did was when it came to trying to get recent arrivals to pay their council tax. Personally i’m of the school of thought that if you choose to live in another country its your responsibility to either learn the language or make sure you can have information translated for you, not expect your new hoem to do it for you. The french do this quite successfully.

  3. Where I live in Manston Road ramsgate in a block of flats people just drive in empty out there cars in the communal bins even sofas and beds they take out of cars & vans even tho there’s CCTV and It don’t see nothing. But so many complaint in to thanet council. All they say nothing they can do

  4. No demographic is any more irresponsible in their misuse & abuse of the Athelstan Road paladin bins than any other – *all* members of the community are equally culpable for misuse & fly tipping – it isn’t about one’s nationality, ones ethnicity, or anything whatsoever to do with race – it’s about finding a practical solution that works for all households/HMOs, so Athelstan Road can get rid of these horrendous end of street paladin bins permanently – they are a magnet for Thanet wide businesses skimping on their commercial waste collection business costs & for tenants whose rogue landlords & rogue management agents have left their properties full of their former tenants’ possessions, putting new tenants in an impossible position & those who live so far away from Athelstan Road they need a car to drive to these grossly overused paladin bins.

    Athelstan Road needs to stop being used by all & sundry as land fill.

    Finding workable alternatives & getting rid of these paladin bins would be a massive step towards restoring civility & dignity on this much maligned & abused street.

    Athelstan Road needs the support of the wider community, not slurs, not innuendo & not misinformation.

    Matt Shoul
    ARTRA chairperson 2019/2020

    • All well and good , but why is it the Athelstan Road bins that get in such a state? Ones at bottom of Edgar nowhere near as bad. The ones in Dalby similarly not as bad. Any conversion in tha last 20 years ( probably longer) will have had a requirement of refuse storage provision. But over the years the council have decided not to empty bin stores that are within a properties boundary instead requiring residents to put their refuse on the path. Tenants in general didn’t do it and tou ended up with rotting heaps of rubbish in storage areas, landlords can no more compel tenants to do it then the council. But they were held responsible for the hazards it created, so landlords shut the bin stores in their buildings. After that for years rubbish was dumped all over the place. Eventually we got the paladin bins, which not surprisingly attracted waste from all and sundry.
      As for your comments about it not being linked to migrants in the area, at a landlord forum run by the council about 5 years ago there was a presentation part of which was about the housing some eastern europeans had and how the norm there was to just chuck it in the street and that people needed to be patient whilst the council tried to address the problem..
      Athelstan road has gained the reputation it has for good reason, it has unfortunately declined to a road where many of the landlords effectively specialise in housing some of lifes more problematic tenants. There was a story in the IOTnews bot so long back highlighting the rodent issues in a block, much of which was a result of tenant behaviour.
      The law as it stands means that tdc would need to catch someone dumping rubbish in the vicinity of their property 3 times in a 12 month period before they can prosecute. Not that they have any real intention of doing so. There is no restricted access to paladin bins, they are provided at the council tax payers expense and as such its hardly unreasonable for a council tax payer to use them, ( business waste is another issue) . Start with environmental health visiting every local business asking for verification of their refuse disposal arrangements and ask for legislation that means that refuse contractors have to inform council if a contract is cancelled.Again won’t happen. In the absence of any meaningful deterrent nothing is going to make people act responsibly.
      Not going to be resolved any time soon.

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