Many comments in our reports from previous years Tilehurst Rescue still apply. Here is a summary of actions that might encourage permanent improvements.
Whereever there is a skip, people come and dump their waste. We had two awful incidents
Signs are posted on the skip that these are prohibited items. And these items were left sneakily, ie in the full knowledge that what they were doing was wrong.
The organisers were left with the problem of arranging for the removal of the items – at public cost – yes you and me paid for their removal.
This is an ongoing problem in the West of Reading – it is still far too easy to dump (mattresses in the McIlroys, armchairs in Blundell’s etc) than to dispose of items in the Waste collection area by Green Park – it is a long way and usually at the weekend there is a long wait.
NCP car parks behind Coop and in Dunstall Close are a disgrace
Local businesses (eg Parkers) should take more responsibility for the litter on their premises
KFC should take greater part in removing their litter
We still have insufficient number of large litter bins – a week after the clearup many corners are again littered – we think because litter is blown out of the bins as well as dropped by the inconsiderate public
Pile of rubbish by Bran Close entrance at the back of the houses in Ogmore Close to be removed
Copicing plan to be agreed (it is seemingly random)
Contact resident’s backing on to McIlroys on Thirlemere Avenue re back fences and dumping – some of the dumping is blatantly from these houses.
Many, many piles of the Evening Post dumped. When contacted The Evening Post removed them with alacrity
Bags of dog poo on the embankment still a problem. Dog warden has been notified.
The fence by the bus layby is still broken. It should be fixed to help prevent access and dumping at this point.
|
Session |
Number of adult volunteers |
Number of children volunteers |
Where cleared |
|
Saturday am |
11 |
2 |
Central Tilehurst including ground behind Coop, along School Road, Triangle, Walnut Way, Blagrave Rec. etc |
|
Saturday pm |
9 |
6 |
Blundells Copse |
|
Sunday am |
11 |
4 |
Bottom end of McIlroys, by the railway house Beechwood Ave to Princeof Wales |
|
Sunday pm |
4 |
1 |
Gypsy Lane – up to McIlroys, Kentwood Hill side of Arthur Newbury Park |
|
Total volunteers for sessions |
35 |
13 |
|
During this years Rescue it was noted that:
On Saturday morning we cleared the hedges and parks around central Tilehurst.
The state of the car parks (the two
NCP car parks in Tilehurst one behind Coop and the other by Dunstall Close) is
very poor. There is a lot of rubbish and noone seems to take on the ownership
of clearing the mess.. Because of the large area of the sites the messiness is
very unwelcome – and causes the area to look run down.
There is still no news about the
redesign of the car park – Oliver Burt was to keep us informed about this and
we understood at the time – in 2002 – that money had been set aside for improvements.
Tilehurst Globe liaised with Oliver Burts department and residents sent in
their views about the siting of the recycling area. We have had no further feed
back despite attempts each year to establish whether this is a dead project (in
which case what happened to the funds set aside for the project) or whether it
is merely postponed
On Saturday afternoon we cleared the area along the stream and along the main paths – especially along the brilliant new circular path. Again the litter is mainly drinks cans, but there were a lot of bottles here as well. There were also the usual crisp packets, chocolate wrappers etc. We had a really good turn out of volunteers – especially young people and children from nearby houses. There was not the volume of litter that there has been in previous years. There was virtually no bulky household waste although Chris managed to find a large chair – very soggy and very heavy – just when we were tired at the end of the session. A local lad who seemed to have nothing else much to do very kindly helped us move the chair from the boggy area up on to the path.
So saying there is one serious patch of dumping – up against the houses in Ogmore Close. Where the path starts at Bran Close there is a huge pile of household rubbish. It looks suspiciously like dumping from the houses in Ogmore. We decided not to move this pile of rubbish on this occasion – since it is difficult to approach – and heavy. However, it needs serious attention, and we will advise the parks department to see if they can assist.
Unfortunately it has been reported that after
a good lull, motorbikes are back in the copse. It must be spring.
On Sunday morning we cleared a particularly messy area of Mcilroys. The entrance into the park on Thirlemere Avenue (by the railway house) had some nasty dumping by the gate – this was cleared by Reading Council a week before the Rescue weekend. However, just to each side of the path up as far as the grassy open area was not good. We cleared a huge pile of rubbish from this area (see picture). There are houses that back on to the park. Many of these do not have back fences and it would seem that they use the park as an extension of their own houses – but for dumping rubbish. We think that this deserves special attention from the Parks Dept of Reading Council to put a stop to it. Once it is cleared it is a really pretty wooded area.
We also cleared the bank that runs down to Norcot Road. Again it is mostly plastic bags, crisp packets, and sweet papers. Would that people were more responsible about their own litter.
Disappointingly after we had secured the skips on Sunday night, and cleared the areas ready for the skips to be removed, some bright spark left a fridge in the skip in Pottery Road. There were signs on the skip requesting NO electrical goods – NO fridges/freezers etc. and yet there is always some smart git who thinks they are really clever sneaking out with such items. We then have to take measures to get the item removed. This is always discouraging for the organizers. We were loaned some tarpaulins this year and this helps considerably in preventing this sort of mindless behaviour by Jo public, but we didn’t have enough to cover all the skips. Lets hope that next year we can have a few more tarps.
Report by Pam Webb who organized this very successful session.
We did get a few comments like "it's about time that was cleared !"
We actually cleared litter from the Prince of Wales to the end of Beechwood Ave as we had one very small helper who could run around more safely on the grass collecting rubbish with her mum while the rest of us concentrated on the brambles.
Together we collected about 18 bags of brambles, weeds, leaves, branches and general litter eg KFC boxes, drinks cans, plastic bottles, sweet wrappers etc etc.
We collected a bag full of glass - mostly beer bottles - some of it was broken including glasses from the pub. However RBC were happy to collect it all.
There were only 3 items worth mentioning -
1 - an estate agent's board - I 'phoned Patrick Williams and it was collected on Monday
2 - an empty petrol can - I put this by the skip at Rusts
3 - an RBC employee's identity card - I posted this to their HR department
We also found a hedgehog and a frog which caused great excitement for the children. They were both taken home by Dad !
I would you like you to thank RBC for their prompt collection of our bags. I think they were collected about an hour after I rang.
I received a note from one of our volunteers thanking me for organising everything. Those thanks, together with my own, should go to you and Jenny.
On Sunday afternoon this year we tidied along Gypsy Lane again. There is still no return of the heavy dumping that there used to be in previous year.. There is still litter – but of the crisp and sweet paper variety. However, there are piles of newspapers all the way along Gypsy Lane. There must be at least 20 bundles of the Evening Post left to rot. But of course a thick bundles of paper do not rot very quickly. We hope that the Evening Post deal with the problem – and possibly catch the culprit.
While we were clearing Gypsy Lane we found many many plastic bags containing dog poo. We reported this last year – and the problem still exists. Obviously someone is collecting the poo as requested but is then chucking the bag and contents into the hedgerow. The plastic bag is then very visible – the contents don’t even rot away. The dog warden has been informed.
In fact while we were clearing the lane – along came a bloke with dog – and he let the dog poo right in front of us. Did he clear it up? Obviously not – claimed he didn’t have a plastic bag on him etc etc – good with the excuses.
The area by the number 18 bus layby in Kentwood Hill was still reasonably tidy. We noticed that the fence is still broken. If the fence along the edge of Arthur Newbery Park were fixed we are sure that there would be a lot less dumping of litter in this part of the park. We have asked for it to be repaired for some years.
The skip here was overflowing with large household items. Is there evidence that the end of free bulky waste collection is stopping people from disposing of these large items. A free skip seems to get filled immediately!
And to the bloke (it would be a bloke wouldn’t it) who left the old bathroom suite, no thanks. You cannot imagine the angst it caused. The organizers know that you don’t care, but we had to make special arrangements to have it removed. It was removed at the cost of the council tax payers. Why did you do it? Make you feel good did it?
A note re the Reading Borough Council skimming service that operated this year. They were brilliant! Without them the weekend could not work so successfully. In some years they have failed to provide a late collection. But this year they did exactly what they said they would do – and came pretty much at the times that they said they would. Wonderful chaps!
Many thanks to all the people who turned out to help clear up the mess. We were wonderfully lucky with the weather and the early spring.