Contractor Faces Fines For The Rubbish Service

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Nearly a year on and the complaints continue

Ealing's rubbish contractors face fines from the Council for poor service.

In April it will be a year since Enterprise took over the waste and recycling contract from May Gurney.

The 'teething problems' of the first few months saw a record number of complaints from local residents, angry that rubbish wasn't being collected when it should.

Complaints have continued and figures reveal (pdf) that in November last year, 20 per cent of the borough's streets were unacceptably dirty - there were 1865 reported missed collections in 2011 compared to 2632 in 2012.

There have been continual calls for the company to be penalised, and, at this week's Ealing Council meeting, Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Councillor Gary Malcolm, demanded to know when this would happen.

He said : ''The Labour Councillor responsible for rubbish withheld a number of details but crucially admitted that Ealing Council is calculating how much it is owed by Enterprise for their 9 months of below par service.''

'' “The Liberal Democrat Group demand to know when Enterprise will be fined and how much the fine will be. Residents deserve to be told instead of the Council not wishing to be more open.”

Conservative Councillor for Environment and Transport, Phil Taylor said:

'' Enterprise have had to accept rebates on the contract and will have to accept more.  In spite of repeated requests the council will not divulge what they are, citing commercial confidentiality.  Evidently the administration wants to kid people that the contract is all fine now so to divulge the extent of financial penalties would undermine their case.'' 

A council spokesperson told us: '' "Officers have calculated a default value against failure to meet contract performance standards since April 2012. It would not be appropriate to disclose any related figures at this time."

 

 

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31st January 2012