• YOUR October 17 CNJ front page featured Cllr Adam Harrison proudly putting up a sign that read: ‘No More Rubbish Excuses.’

Edition 54 of my rag, the Hampstead Village Voice reported something Cllr Harrison might not like to hear.

Those piles of rubbish we are forced to endure for hours every evening on the various high streets of the borough are a direct result of a broken refuse system fully endorsed by the council.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990, first bestowed upon us by Margaret Thatcher, permits as many private collection companies as their own shareholders can muster up, to (allegedly) keep our high streets clean.

Subsequently, instead of having a rubbish van come and collect all the rubbish in one go, we are left with several companies doing what was once the sole responsibility of the local authority.

The result?

Veolia, Biffa, First Mile, Albion et al not picking up the others’ rubbish, and a high street piled high with dumped, splitting bags for hours on end.

The irony of a council that endorses and funds a system that actively fly-tips on an industrial scale, erecting signs that read: “there’s no excuse for fly-tipping” isn’t lost on us.

Most civilised cities in Europe use solid infrastructure to store their rubbish: not flimsy bags on the street.

So, sorry, Cllr Harrison, you’re pointing one finger at the fly-tippers and three at yourself.

A rubbish excuse if ever there was one.

SEBASTIAN WOCKER
Publisher, Hampstead Village Voice
aka Angry of ‘Ampstead