Hi everyone,
Thank you again for helping us bring this important issue to the council and for your patience in waiting for their response. According to the constitution, the council is obligated to provide an acknowledgement of a petition in two working days and a response in a further 10 working days. We received a response 36 working days after we submitted your petition at the full council meeting of 16 October 2024.
Unfortunately, the council has not set a specific objective to significantly improve the cleanliness of Streatham to the standard residents expect.
Just to remind you – we asked the council to:
- review the contract performance of Serco specifically in relation to the cleanliness of Streatham according to the expectations and perceptions of the community,
- devote the necessary resources to address environmental vandalism in Streatham hotspots,
- demand Serco pay greater attention to the cleanliness of Streatham Town centre with enforced daily clean ups and regular jet washing.
The council’s response to this is:
“Since September the contract monitoring team have [sic] been working hard to improve both refuse collection and street cleansing performance. Over the past couple of months, we have seen a marked improvement in Serco’s performance with the number of missed refuse collections returning to an acceptable standard of 40 per 100,000.
There have also been a number of actions taken to improve the cleanliness of Streatham and the borough as a whole. These improvements include moving to the pro-active removal of fly-tipped waste. Contractually Serco has 72 hours to remove fly-tipped waste when a complaint is received. To fulfil this requirement Serco were responding to the complaints in an attempt to achieve the SLA. However when we reviewed this approach, we found it to be inefficient. Serco have [sic] now moved to the proactive removal of fly-tips where they check each road twice a week and remove any fly-tips identified. As a result we are starting to see the number of reported fly-tips drop. They are also monitoring and removing fly-tipped waste from hot spots on a more regular basis and liaising with Enforcement where possible to identify and fine offenders.
There has also been more focus on the standard of street cleansing. Under the contract Serco are required to litter pick once a week after refuse collection. A second litter pick is provided where needed by a mobile team. A deep clean is also scheduled to take place on a 30 day cycle to remove detritus and weeds. The 30 day cycle takes account on weekends and bank holidays to ensure no areas are missed for more than around a 6 week period.
Since January 24 officers have undertaken over 600 inspections in the Streatham area the vast majority of which met the required standard under the EPA code of practice that we use to measure the cleanliness of the borough. However if there are areas of concern officers would be happy to meet residents or members on site to walk around and make sure any issues are addressed.”
We are disappointed that Lambeth has chosen to ignore the lived experience of residents, we hoped for a more comprehensive action plan from the council. While we will have to wait to see if the bi-weekly fly-tip removal schedule has any real effect, we note that the litter picking and deep cleaning schedules appear to be no different to the existing service level.
Since October, Green Councillors have been persistent in reporting hotspots, seeking contract performance and monitoring reports and updates from the relevant Cabinet Member, some of which is still not forthcoming after several weeks of delay. Kingscourt Rd residents are still reporting little improvement in their street after presenting their deputation.
What happens next?
- We will continue to seek contract performance and monitoring data to see if there are any improvements in the ward.
- We encourage you to continue to report service requests by emailing us or using the online tool; doing this ensures that the data is a representation of the issue on our streets.
- The council has offered to send officers to site to discuss problem areas – if you would like to arrange this please contact our office.
- We will continue to stay in touch with Kingscourt Rd residents and liaise with the Cabinet Member to keep Lambeth accountable to their promised actions.
Thank you all again for your support and advocacy. If you have any questions or suggestions please contact us using the links below.
Cllrs Scott Ainslie and Nicole Griffiths, Streatham St Leonard’s ward.