A Victory for Cllr Mirza or a Bit of Smoke and Mirrors?

Newham was recently reported as one of the dirtiest boroughs in England. Against this backdrop we would hope to see bold initiatives and a commitment to both better response times to dumped rubbish and some level of enforcement, but of course, the mayor doesn’t like enforcement.

Nonetheless, the Deputy Mayor will be presenting a report to council on Monday 18th September.

Some of the report comes across as vacuous twaddle.

Some comes across as infantile. Indeed, you would be forgiven for thinking that it was a comedy spoof.

New uniforms are nice, but quite how effective they will be in reducing fly-tips is something of a mystery.

This is a missed opportunity. Empty words fill up the space where there could be policy and a delivery plan.

Cllr Mirza campaigned on litter and fly-tipping, as Newham’s newest councillor, he told Open Newham;

“This report could have been very different. It could have laid out a plan to drastically reduce the amount of dumped rubbish on our streets. But it doesn’t.

“It is full of platitudes and very short on delivery.

“We know how to do it. A planned approach to cleaning up one area and then moving on to the next. A plan that includes education, PR, effective services and the threat of sanctions. But for some reason Mayor Fiaz would rather sound good, than do good.”

A question for some of our elected councillors; just by how much will this report reduce the amount of dumped litter on our streets? If the answer is “I don’t know”, perhaps the report should be sent back and those responsible told to do it again.