7 May 2018

Rubbish Strewn Over A Large Area On Both Sides Of The River

Thanks to Gail Moon for sending the following message :

We are now having another spell of nice weather and consequently this has brought the picnickers out in force again.

We came past the main bridge at Five Arches at about 7pm last night and most of the rubbish had been put in bags next to the bins as all the bins were full.

This morning when we went past the main bridge there was a very large amount of rubbish strewn over a large area on both sides of the river. Not only is this unsightly, but it is surely harmful to the local wildlife. Items of rubbish could easily end up in the river and get tangled in the birds and bits of plastic coud be eaten by any of the animals.

And this problem will only increase as summer approaches.

This frequent situation could easily be resolved if the local authority installed a bank of, say, six refuse bins on either side of the main bridge. Some of these could also be fitted with padlocks during the winter months for economic reasons so that only one or two bins are used and need to be emptied.

I believe that extra bins may also be needed near the car park at the Rectory Lane entrance.

There is also the ongoing problem of the dog poo bins not being adequate. Would it not be more sensible for the local authority to put an additional poo bin next to each of the existing dog poo bins on either side of the main bridge? Surely it is better to empty extra black sacks from additional poo bins rather than having to remove individual poo bags from on top and around the base of the poo bins!

Five Arches is a lovely natural green space for all of us who live here and the local authority is actively promoting it as a good place to visit, to jog, walk, etc, but it also needs to ensure that visitors treat it with respect to keep it a nice place for wildlife and people. Supplying additional bins would go a long way to assisting with this.

I would say that on this occasion, at about 9am this morning there were local authority workers out collecting the rubbish, although their job would have been cleaner and quicker if they were just collecting bagged up rubbish rather than litter spread over a large area!.

However the situation is likely to be repeated tonight and the danger to wildlife will not be prevented. The only way to reduce the impact of rubbish is to provide more bins.

I hope that the residents association are able to pass my comments (and I suspect mine will not be the only email received about this) onto the relevant authorities and that we can get this situation resolved satisfactorily and help keep our green space green.

Many thanks,

Gail Moon

We have forwarded Gail's message to Bexley's Works Direct who normally respond quickly and positively once an issue has been brought to their attention.