Dorney Tower in Belsize Park, one of many areas where the rubbish is piling up

• RESIDENTS from across Belsize have contacted us repeatedly over the past week to share their frustrations about the new Camden waste contract.

So many have not yet received the information they need to know what to do. There are bags of waste left on the street and recycling bins have been overflowing for days. People in Belsize Square, who are still getting weekly waste collections, haven’t received their orange bags yet. And residents are already reporting an increase in vermin in Camden.

The new rubbish call centre is apparently… rubbish. People have tried to get through for days, waiting 45 minutes on hold before giving up. Camden Labour admitted that there were 2,900 calls to the council’s rubbish contractor and residents reported that call centre staff say that it’s been like that every day.

These aren’t just “teething troubles”. This contract is unfair – on neighbouring streets people are now getting half the service for the same council tax – and the transition has been badly planned and poorly implemented.

Today is the first day of the week in the fortnightly cycle in which there is no general waste collection. After last week we can only imagine what the streets will look like by next Monday. And it turns out that collections won’t be affected by bank holiday, so anyone going away for Easter and thinking they can put their bins out on Tuesday (instead of Monday) will have a nasty surprise. Their bins will have to stay indoors for another two weeks.

We are trying to help people to solve the problems they’re experiencing with the lack of information, contractor errors, and many changes. And we’ve arranged a public meeting with Veolia and Camden on April 25 from 7-9pm at Swiss Cottage Library, to make sure you can have your say.

CLLRS CLAIRE-LOUISE LEYLAND, LEILA ROY
& JONNY BUCKNELL
Conservative, Belsize ward