General Chat

My mum is 81 and disabled.She lives alone and doesn't know her neighbours except a grumpy older lady who lives in the flat below.

Anyway because she is a leaseholder on her flat, the housing association make regular checks to see that your garden etc is kept in a tidy condition.

Outside her little driveway but not causing an obstruction to anyone is half a bag of ballast/cement that was used about 5 years ago to repair some of her path.it has remained there ever since.
Last week she received a letter and a photo of the cement bag with an order to remove it as its basically an "eyesore."

She phoned them and the council explaining she doesn't have anyone to remove it so could they get rid of it for her. She was willing to pay £20 for them to take it away but they refused and said she had to make her own arrangements!!

Today I telephoned her local council and after checking various depts., I was informed that they would not uplift it and mum has to sort it herself.
I did explain her situation and their response was, look In yellow pages and find a private contractor to remove it.

My faith in human kindness was restored after phoning Help The Aged who gave me a number of 2 very nice gentlemen. They are coming tomorrow and the charge is £20.This covers their time and cost of taking to the nearest tip which charge to take it.

Very lovely kind men who thought the council were dreadful at not helping. Mum didn't expect to get it done for free. She just needed some help with the matter.


Florence
in the hebrides

Do tell us which scrooge council this is that doesn't care about its elderly people Florence.

Glad you’ve sorted it, but on another occasion you could try the Council’s ‘bulk waste’ collection service.
As they manage to collect freezers, washing machines etc, half a bag of cement should be a doddle!

Kent County Council-named and shamed!tunbridge Wells)

They do remove bulky items such as fridges etc but as this is "builders materials," I was told nope they wont take it.

Florence in the hebrides :-|

Ridiculous :-|

As usual, logic cannot be applied if any level of Government is involved.

Age UK are very helpful too

When hubby was struggling he went to Dementia day care on a wed and he was picked up from home by a minibus with a helper on board who assisted the folks to get on and off the bus and made sure they were seated and belted before the bus drew off
Returned later the same way

We had to pay the full daily rate as we weren't on any benifits but that was ok as he enjoyed getting out and having company of others

When he was ill I informed them he wasn't going to the centre and they rang very few days to see how he was doing

We even got his stair lift through a company that worked through them and guaranteed no hard selling
They checked up to later to make sure we were satisfied and no pressure sale was made

I did inform them that he had passed and they even sent a condolence card

Just recently whilst down the local tip, my OH was getting rid of garden waste, he said that one now had to pay to dump building materials, brick, stone, etc.,


This will only result in people dumping anywhere and everywhere. I know Councils are strapped for cash, and they cant be expected to do everything as they once did. The bulk system of taking items twice a year seems to have been scrapped.

Bad move, as the cost of clearing up dumped waste must be enormous.

A pity someone didnt have a word with your Mum, Florence, instead of the photo.

Sue

Florence were we live in Dumfries & Galloway we have to pay for removal of washing machines & other house hold goods £30 .we have a council tip other end of the village so garden waste & small items we take ourselves .I did ring council as we had wasp nest in a bird house on the side of a shed .sorry we don't move them you will have to get private firm .a gardener near us shifted it didn't kill them just put them in a bag to move to a wood near us £5 he charged x Barbara :-)

Shirley, that was really good of them and obviously made a difference to you with a reliable and helpful service.

Sue, that's what they do down there. They employ people to work in a district checking on gardens to see if they have been mown, see if you have any rubbish in ur garden etc Taking a photo and sending it means they don't have any confrontation I guess with less polite tenants/occupants than my mum.
Yes the local tip do charge to dump builders waste.

Mum was willing to pay, she just couldn't find anyone until I intervened. Shall be ringing her later to make sure the guys came as they promised.


Yes fly tipping is a huge problem. I have seen a few programmes about it and is a disgrace. But I guess as people are generally strapped for cash thesedays, dumping in a field at night is a cheaper option to some and they don't care about the environment just how much cash they save!

Florence in the hebrides

Talking about people ‘reporting’ overgrown gardens or privately owned verges.

A friend lives in old oak beamed village cottage on a slight slope. Their fence is a foot or so from the pavement. Someone complained to the Council - it might be West Malling in Kent - that it was overgrown & obstructing the footpath.
The friend didn’t think it was ‘that bad’ but nevertheless tidied it up.
The Council contacted them again to say they hadn’t rectified the situation. The Council wouldn’t give them the name of the complainant with whom friends wanted to discuss the perceived ‘problem’.

Eventually the Council realised they should have written to the house opposite, the one with the overgrown hedge & collapsing fence! Did friends get an apology? Of course not!

Recycling Depots aka the Dump are run by the county council in Kent. If small amounts of trade waste won’t be accepted by them fee-free, it’s not surprising if it ends up fly-tipped. Borough council arrange bulk or heavy collections. It seems their fees vary widely. Our daughter can have 3 free collections per year. We have to pay for 15 mins each time.

Praise where it’s due - our local dump had been closed for several months as a result of a fire. We’d been noticing fly tipping near by. After people, including ourselves, where reporting to the local council when a new lot appeared, the council instigated a weekly clear up schedule.
The Dump partially reopened this weekend, much to everyone’s relief!

My mum is 95 and is living in warden control and her council has decided Thad she need extra care so they are moving her into brand new place it’s like a home but you have your own flat but you have 24/7 her care has been second to none and very important in my eyes doctors are wonderful council Hillingdon

Always good to hear of the good guys as well as the bad Linda