REPORT OF A MEETING ON WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICES IN EALING held on January 12^TH 2004

BACKGROUND

As part of the Audit Commission Review assessing the Council's performance, a focus group was called (in dubious ways) to provide residents' views of refuse collection, recycling facilities and street cleanliness. ED was approached through Neighbourhood Watch. As SE was unavailable ED attended.

FORMAT OF MEETING

It was well conducted. Some 15 people attended out of a possible 20. As ever, a few who like the sound of their own voices dominated. Five areas were considered, street cleaning, refuse collection, recycling, collection sites and the Council's Call Centre. We were asked to rate each area on a scale of 1 to 10. The results were considered and trends noted. After lengthy discussion we were asked to write down our 'four wishes' for action. These were grouped into topic areas and finally, we had six votes to prioritise recommendations for the Audit Commission. The meeting lasted two and a quarter hours!

PRIORITIES FOR ACTION

1. Greater supervision and better management of the services

2. Sacking of responsible top Council officials

3. Improvement of street cleaning

4. Better communication/engagement from the Council

5. Enforcement of appropriate behaviour of residents

FUTURE ACTION

The Audit Commission is meeting various Council officials, Cardinal etc. and will produce a report, which will be available on www.audit-commission.gov.uk in March.

COMMENTS

1. The two officials appeared well-informed and professional and conducted

the meeting purposefully. This gave grounds for optimism

2. They admitted that in the last two reviews Ealing scored 1 out of 4, as did

many other boroughs.

3. We are VERY fortunate compared to other parts of Ealing, especially

Southall. There were horrific stories and photographs of rubbish and

fly-tip strewn streets, of an absence of street cleaning, total lack of interest

and action by Council officials and Councillors, closure of dumps and

difficulty in getting through to the Call Centre. The anger against the

Council was real, it will be interesting to see what happens.

Liz Dendy

January 11 2004