Forum Topic

We are paying huge amounts for the council

I’m sad to say that our council is not helping us - I know three people who had really bad falls - including me on the leaves who have not been picked up . - really really dangerous- never happened before - not good. This is totally unacceptable- yes more trees dropping their leaves but I’ve never seen all these left on our pavements. It’s really dangerous.

Helen Bamberger ● 41d33 Comments

You don’t have to pay TV licence either. They may not enter your home to check what you are watching without a court order. If they do eventually get a court order after many months or years and they find that you have been watching BBC, they have to give you the opportunity to pay for a licence from that day or promise them that you won’t watch again. Simple. Buck the system. And don’t forget to speed through LTNs with your reflective number plates

Steve Taylor ● 33d

Yorkshire lady mentioned in my post above recommends us the advice on beating the council tax baliffs  by looking upsites.google.com/view/councilfundingterrorism/home

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 33d

Great post today on X from a regular lady contributor from Yorkshire, council tax baliff turned up at her house, Yorkshire lady asked to see The Liability Order from the court- council tax baliff ran away ! Yorkshire lady advice to the rest of us 'dont let the buggers grind you down and dont let them scare you'. I couldnt agree more.X.com  @real-shirelass  posted November 22nd 8.29am

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 33d

You replied within 6 minutes. Already forgotten your celebrations of Bladerunners and the people refusing to pay ULEZ fines and your predictions of mass uprisings and revolution. Just another gobby dipshit like Anna.

Paul Campbell ● 39d

- I didnt have you down as a defeatist Julian.  Wheres the British lion gone ??

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 39d

Oh god,your like a bad rash "Like The ULEZ muppets you supported eh Julian" Well you point me where and i will respond. Until then take a nap from refreshing your browser every 5 mins. Get a frigging life

Julian Pavey ● 39d

Like The ULEZ muppets you supported eh Julian? Chickens come home to roost.

Paul Campbell ● 39d

LOLYou dont have to pay anything,but non payment comes with consequences. Its called more money owing be collections and court actionStill dont pay,they take it from your wages or benefits.Good luck with that one

Julian Pavey ● 39d

Do you know there is actually NO law obligating you to pay council tax ?! A group called No Obligation Challenge have offered a reward of £23,000 to anyone who can prove there is an obligation to pay.Check out www.tinyurl.com/2p5xae9j

Anna Kirkpatrick ● 39d

Well no I haven't seen anyone sweeping the streets in a suit covered in arrows.

Keith Iddon ● 40d

Keith, don't concern yourself with such redundancies amongst council workers.I have never seen these arduous tasks undertaken by convicts being given community service.I have never seen these people in action, neither have you I suspect, apart from Boy George sweeping the roads for drug offences years ago.

Denis I. Fox ● 40d

My thoughts too.

David Burke ● 40d

Denis, I wonder what staff currently paid to clear leaves away and other such tasks would think about their job being given to a convicted criminal who was not being paid to do the same work.

Keith Iddon ● 40d

Can you predict which day the Autumn leaves are going to fall most heavily and on which streets?  There should be some retained knowledge of particular areas which have the heaviest leaf falls and where the leaves tend to collect in drifts but it does vary making it more difficult to schedule.  Just look at how the weather forecasts can be completely wrong and a change in wind direction can take the leaves in another direction into a different street!  Sometimes I see a leaf or two and wonder where the nearest tree of that particular species is when none are visible nearby.In other countries residents would be expected to take more action themselves and many Councils here make bags available for residents to speed up and aid the collection.Slippery wet and decomposing leaves and a thick layer that hide where the kerb is are obviously more hazardous for those who are less sure of foot but so are rocking and cracked paving stones and dislodged kerbstones often caused by motor vehicles being driven over kerbs.  It would be good if more people called out and reported drivers for this and pavement damage as well as reported particularly thick leaf fall to the Councils and/or asked for street leaf collection bags if fit and willing to bag some of the leaves.We don't want the ongoing cost of maintaining the much admired and beautiful and necessary trees and leaf collection to become a cost-cutting excuse to lose them.  Already we have enough of a crisis with climate change and loss biodiversity.

Philippa Bond ● 40d

And regarding High Streets maybe they should start cleanest High Street Competition would that motivate anyone I wonder.

Janice Evans ● 40d

The leaves have been slow falling, we clear them on Sundays.

Janice Evans ● 40d

I have a suggestion.Now that our prisons are closed to all but convicted murderers, many criminals are given community work as an alternative to custodial sentencing.Why not give these people the task of clearing our streets of leaves?

Denis I. Fox ● 40d

What they are saying Andrew is that there should not be any leaves on pavements. I agree they haven't thought through the implications so I did that bit for them.

Paul Campbell ● 40d

Yep course they do. Excellent way of spending taxpayer money to enable healthy and sustainable transport. And far cheaper than road maintenance.

Paul Campbell ● 40d

So cycle lanes don't need clearing ??

Janice Evans ● 40d

They swept up the leaves near us in Bedford Park recently.Cunningly they performed the annual exercise before the majority of the trees had shed.

Will Watson ● 40d

I too tripped over rough paving stones covered in leaves on Rupert Road and bashed my chin.  The resulting swelling made me look like a bearded lady for a few days! So I now walk in the road in that area, equally dangerous in a different way.  We clear our own leaves outside our house, as to many residents of our road, courtesy of free orange sacks delivered by Hounslow on request.

Lucy Chambers ● 40d

Don't think anyone is actually suggesting there should be an army of short-term workers, but from personal experience, the degree of pavement clearing (of leaves) varies from council to council.LBHF are pretty good, Hounslow (in my experience) seem to be worse and leave longer periods between clearing leaves.

Andrew Jones ● 41d

I’d have thought by now we’d have trucks with vacuum hoses efficiently sucking up leaves from roadsides and pavements. As it is we seem to have occasional teams of manual workers who sweep leaves into piles, which then blow away, or put them in small green plastic bags which they leave by the roadside to rot or burst open while waiting for some other team to pick them up - or more accurately, it seems, we don’t even have that! Maybe teams of specially equipped pavement-riding cyclists could do the job!

Peter Evans ● 41d

Obviously spending money on cycle lanes instead of an army of short-term temporary workers picking up every leaf at point of contact with a pavement for a few weeks is a perfectly sensible way of prioritising taxpayer money regardless of the source of funding. However I am glad that the velophobes are beginning to think this way because it will help them to understand when road budgets are diverted to cycle lane budgets next Spring.

Paul Campbell ● 41d

Janice, that money comes from Active Travel England - it can only be spent on specific things not sweeping leaves.

Stewart Jones ● 41d

You should see the whining about unswept cycle lanes on Ealing Facebook groups. The poor dears.

N V Brooks ● 41d

I live in Ealing and my street hasn't been swept for approaching a year!

peter king ● 41d

I live in Ealing and my street hasn't been swept for approaching a year!

peter king ● 41d

Stewart, they had a lot of funds for the cycle lanes.

Janice Evans ● 41d

Spot on!

Stewart Jones ● 41d

Well it's also just a fact of life and it's a story that we have to endure listening to every year like how wokery is cancelling Christmas and you just can't say Easter any more etc. There are a few weeks where vast numbers of trees are shedding millions of leaves on every street. You'd have to have an army working round the clock to ensure leaf-free streets every day.

Paul Campbell ● 41d

Whilst you're right to say that this is unacceptable, this is a consequence of huge cuts in government grants to councils over the last ten years.  The country repeatedly voted to support a government who didn't want money going to councils. It's what the country wanted.

Stewart Jones ● 41d

Yes Jim - it really isn’t acceptable- this is terrible for everyone- especially the elderly-

Helen Bamberger ● 41d

Another problem with a pavementcovered with leaves Helen ...is that they hid the paving obstacles beneath them.That's very dodgy for those pedestrians who need to take care.After dark, after it's rained etc etc

Jim Lawes ● 41d