Conwy has again been recognised for having the "Cleanest Streets" in Wales. This time we are joint 1st with Monmouthshire. This is a great achievement and I would like to thank all the staff in the Street Scene Department for their hard work.
Up to 150 streets and roads are picked at random and inspected independently by inspectors from Keep Wales Tidy. They look for Dog Fouling, Litter and Graffiti. Litter is set into 4 categories, smoking related litter (SRL), drinks, confectionery and fast food.
I am very pleased with this result as the staff have been working hard to catch up after the adverse weather.
We have a problem with irresponsible dog owners not picking up after their dogs and this has been worse lately due to, in my opinion, the dark mornings and early evenings. These irresponsible owners must feel they are not being seen so they can leave their dog mess behind.
I am Working with Cllr Philip Evans on an operation to tackle this very issue and very soon we will have a multi agency team cracking down on this. This team will consist of Environment and Regulatory Services in Conwy CBC and the Police. They will hit "Hotspots" and anyone caught leaving their dogs mess or littering can expect a fixed penalty.
If you have a problem regarding Street Cleanliness, please report it to our Environment Department on 01492 575337
Bit late innit or is is this a quick fix for your election
ReplyDeleteanon 14:39
ReplyDeletesorry, I do not understand.
I wonder which street they looked at, pretty obvious which ones they missed, for if they had looked at those we would be no where near the top!
ReplyDeleteI only recently commented to a member of my family how clean our streets are in relation to many towns and cities, Chester was disgusting the other day.
ReplyDeleteComment one sounds as if it came from a Conservative attempting to gain kudos by bringing the election to the fore Mike, most of us realise what an excellent job you are doing for the environment all year not just close to elections, keep it up and I`m glad you have a running partner Susan Shotter in the Marl ward to help you.
To be fair to Mike, the issue of dog-fouling has been on his radar since it was raised on the 3 Towns Forum after Christmas. He and Jason Weyman have responded to concerns raised and they are working on various ways of tackling this difficult and disgusting problem.
ReplyDeleteRichard
Oscar,
ReplyDeleteThis is a good result for Conwy and I am not saying that we are perfect, I am however working with other departments to tackle some of the issues. We need to tackle the issues at root cause, via education and fines. I would be very interested in complaints made or requests to 01492 575337 Not Actioned.
The staff I talk to really do want to make a difference in Conwy and are proud of their achievements and once again I thank them.
It is always a difficult call to announce this type of achievement as my experience tells me it attracts more negative responses than positive. All we can do is work together to tackle the issues as they arise.
Next time you are out look at some of the peoples behaviour, discarding cigarette type litter for example. I challenged a man in his Seventies the other day who just flicked his cigarette onto the pavement outside Holland and Barrrets, his wife said she was ashamed of him. (I wonder over his lifetime how much litter he has discarded, only for our staff to pick up)
It is a big problem that sadly will be very difficult to solve but we will try our best with the resources we have.
I have tried to send you a photo of castle street, your council e mail would not accept it.
ReplyDeleteHave sent it to oscar instead.
conwy town pavements are a disgrace to the area.
Tony,
ReplyDeleteMy email: cllr.michael.priestley@conwy.gov.uk
sometimes the "E" is missed in my surname and sometimes I am emailed as cllr.Mike, these will bounce back.
When and what time was the photo taken?
Mike
How about a crackdown on chewing gum or are we still ignoring this problem? Good thing KWT didn't include it in their criteria or Conwy would have come last...
ReplyDeleteIm sure it is nice that you were able to hire a personal assistant through the Marl Ward election but are either of you going to do anything to get to grips with the dog fouling problem? one of your (sorry susan's) opposite candidates came up with a fantastic idea to combat this...what are yours and when will the chiropodists/secretary's online facility be up and running?
ReplyDeleteAnon 17:26
ReplyDeleteI believe Councillor Shotter's email is cllr.susan.shotter@conwy.gov.uk
I/We are working with the Police, Environment Department and our Regulatory Services on a joint operation. We will be looking to educate and enforce where applicable, in order to get the message across that this behaviour is unacceptable. It is the mindless few Residents, yes our residents, on the whole that are to blame here.
We in Marl have a great Police team who are proactive and often stop dog walkers and ask them if they are carrying bags, they too understand this problem.
My experience is that this problem will start to get better as the light nights and early mornings are with us. Also as soon as the council start to cut and collect the grass, the mess is also collected.
The answer is catching the people/residents and ultimately maybe banning persistent offenders from owning dogs if they cannot look after them. I feel you can clear up the mess but it will only appear again later in the day.
Can I also say that I was not a candidate in the Marl Ward Election and do not have a personal assistant, to be honest I could not afford one but I am very fortunate to have a very supportive family.
Anon 30th 17.26
ReplyDeleteEveryone should be thinking of ways to make our ward and Conwy County in general a nicer place to live. You (obviously a Conservative and proud of it) mentions that Cll Shotter`s opposition has ways to help solve the problems, if that is the case why doesn`t she share it with everyone who might be able to help sort the problems out, I`m sure the councillors who work hard for Conwy would like to think they have supporters who really wants to help the county out there willing to share ideas.
Personally I wonder at anyone who wants to join the council when there are such negative people like you sound around, and as for having a blog! I pity any councillor who has one with such rude and sexist people so ready to find faults.
Any wonder that the young people of today loath to run for council, they`d be running for cover instead.
Mike Congratulations on the excellent news, keep at it and even though some ignorant people might blame you personally for every piece of litter or gum that is thrown on the streets, most of us are intelligent enough to work out the reality.
Nice to see Julie reading your blog Mike!
ReplyDeleteIt was funny to see the reaction of Weekly News readers this week on the Letters page to the news of an award for Conwy's supposed cleanliness - disbelief just about summed up their reaction. That's what real people think of their area, not this pie in the sky awards nonsense.
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