Calendars all round

Published: 14 January, 2011

• AT Christmas, a lot of people receive too many calendars as presents. I suggest we send them to council departments which are obviously oblivious to dates.

First, send a calendar to the department that deals with Christmas lights on the streets. At the time of writing, it is the 17th day of Christmas. As the council wants to save money on these lights, should they not be removed by the 10th night?

Second, calendars should be sent to Enterprise, as it has no idea of when to collect refuse. On our estate, it has missed nine collections in the past 19 weeks. Also, it has missed four recycling collections in this period because... there was too much to collect.

If the council goes ahead with the plan to charge residents for not recycling enough, then residents should be able to claim for missed collections, or when Enterprise fails to clear up rubbish it drops.

Finally, a calendar should be sent to the department in charge of gritting the streets in bad weather, as it obviously does not know when winter is. It is all very well putting handfuls of grit here and there along Upper Street (or a massive amount outside the town hall), but side streets are where residents are trapped, and need to get out. During the bad weather, even Councillor Catherine West toured our estate and was appalled at the lack of grit and safe walking areas.

MARTIN RUTHERFORD
Secretary, Popham 1 Estate Tenants’ and Residents’ Association