Street Cleaning in our Estate

Further to residents feedback on our Estate roads and pavements cleanliness there are going to be a number of changes, which will be initially introduced on a trial basis, by LBB Street Cleaning Services team with the objective of further improving the effectiveness and efficiency of our roads and pavements cleaning services.

Some of these changes will involve a degree of collaboration from Estate residents.

I will post details of these changes once they have been finalized with LBB Street Cleaning Services team."

Regards

Sandro Gor

Street Cleaning Issues Coordinator

Talk at Burnt Ash Library Thursday 19th March

Ridgeway Drive featured on BBC TV

Our Estate had a moment in the spotlight as a property in Ridgeway Drive featured in the popular BBC programme "Homes Under the Hammer".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b054t4kg/homes-under-the-hammer-series-18-episode-76

Available from iPlayer till the end of March 2015 

Reduction in paper and cardboard collections

Bromley Council is proposing to reduce the kerbside paper collections from weekly to fortnightly. The following recommendation was made at the meeting of the Environment Portfolio committee meeting of 18th Feb

Report ES14081 proposed that the frequency of the kerbside paper collection service be revised from weekly to every other week. This would achieve a substantive saving and reflect changes in the tonnages of material collected.

Compared to 2009/10, paper tonnages for 2013/14 fell by 13.59% in line with emerging national trends. For 2014/15, the paper tonnage is projected to fall further.

Split-bodied vehicles (SBVs) co-collect food and paper and three additional SBVs would be required to provide sufficient capacity for paper to be collected every other week. This would ensure the SBVs can cope with the weight disparity between food waste and paper collected.

Two options were presented for the revised service: Option 1 comprised the purchase of three specialist vehicles at £186k per vehicle, totalling£558k; Option 2 proposed the vehicles be hired from June 2015 to March 2019 (end of current contract) but with a reduced annual revenue savings (by approximately £120k), with no residual value for the vehicles at contract end. Report ES14081summarised the overall savings for each option.

In moving paper collection to every other week, residents would receive five collections over each two week period - two for food, one for paper, one for GCP, and one for residual waste. The current kerbside collection service for refuse and recyclables offers six collections over each two week period - two for food, two for paper, one for Glass/Cans/Plastics (GCP), and one for residual waste.

More details are available on the following webpage :-

http://cds.bromley.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?id=30418&LLL=0

LERA NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2015

The Annual General Meeting of the Links Estate Residents Association will be held on Tuesday 19th May starting at 7.30 pm.

This time we will be holding it in (what will be) the newly completed St Andrew’s Church Community Hall. The building work on the new Hall is well on the way to completion and it is expected to be used as a polling station on 7th May.

You are very welcome to attend even if you are not currently a member of LERA.  Our AGM provides a good opportunity to talk about local issues, so come along and tell us what you like about living on the Links Estate and what you think could be done to make things better.

Consultation about Biggin Hill Airport operating hours

All homes in the Links Estate should have received a hand-delivered letter from the leader of Bromley council encouraging residents to respond to the consultation. A freepost form was included. If you feel strongly about the changes you will need to return the form before 23rd March.

The proposed changes were printed in the letter and are are shown below:-

An extended consultation period has commenced about the extension of operating hours at Biggin Hill airport.

The 8 week consultation follows the submission of a proposal by Biggin Hill Airport Limited (BHAL) to extend operating hours at the airport, which also includes an increase in current operating hours, a commitment to reduce noise, a plan to increase jobs and a willingness to cap overall flight movements. The council’s consultation follows a pre-proposal consultation by BHAL which saw 15,000 local people respond, with 79% of responses in overall support of the proposals. Interested residents are invited to complete the online survey by no later than Friday 13 March when the consultation period closes. 

Councillor Stephen Carr, Leader of Bromley Council said, “The council has owned the freehold of the airport for many years, generating a rental income for council taxpayers. The primary reason it was purchased was to ensure its long term success, whilst at the same time protecting residents’ interests from across the borough and those living under the flightpath.”

Councillor Carr added, “The airport’s willingness to consult local people about their plans is welcome. The council is conducting its own consultation which is in line with previous commitments as this is an important issue which affects all residents. We will look at this proposal very carefully in due course and I would strongly encourage all residents to make their views known to us.” 

Residents and other interested parties can respond to the consultation by completing the short survey online at www.bromley.gov.uk/BigginHillairport. Detailed information about the proposals, including the noise action plan proposal and the outcome of the BHAL consultation is also available on the council’s website. The consultation period closes on Friday 13 March 2015.

The airport is currently open from 06.30 to 22.00 hours, Monday to Friday and 09.00 to 20.00 on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays. The current operating hours prohibit landings before 07.30 hours and departures after 21.00 hours Monday to Friday except for aircraft based at the airport which can depart between 06.30 and 07.30 and land between 21.00 and 22.00 which is sometimes referred to as the ‘shoulder’ period.  

The new operating hours proposed by BHAL are 06.30 to 23.00 hours, Monday to Saturday and 08.00 to 23.00 hours on Sundays and public holidays. The proposal also restricts movements (flights in or out) in the first half hour of the day, Monday to Saturday, to 8 movements. Movements are also restricted to 8 in the last hour of the day Monday to Sunday.

• The original consultation, including all the proposals and results can be found at BHAL’s website: www.bigginhillfuture.co.uk

Gutter cleaning scam warning

Bromley Trading Standards are warning residents to be alert to a rogue trader following an attempt to trick an 80-year-old resident into parting with £600.

The Orpington resident returned home early one evening in the first week of January to find a man on his property who said he was cleaning gutters in the area and could do his for £10. The resident agreed and the man said he would do the work the following day.

The next day the resident  was out and received a call mid-morning from the trader to say he had removed the guttering and fascia from the property because it was rotten and it would cost £1,500 to replace. The consumer refused and the price was reduced to £600. The victim reluctantly agreed as he thought the guttering would need to be put back up. He was told the work would be completed immediately and a courier would collect the cash later that evening.

However, when he returned home an hour later he found there had been no evidence of the guttering having been removed at all. Later that evening he did get a call at the door but on the advice of his family this was ignored.

The trader used the name ABD Contractors, based in Station Road, Orpington.

Cllr Tim Stevens, Executive Member for Public Protection and Safety said: “This was an outright attempt to trick someone into paying for work which was neither needed or indeed carried out at all. We suspect the rogue was expecting the householder  to return home after dark and therefore not have an opportunity to check the work had been carried out. The resident did the right thing by refusing to answer the door. 

If you or anyone you know is approached by ABD Contractors from Orpington please call Bromley Trading Standards’ rapid response number straight away on 07903 852 090.