Newham Suddenly Finds an Army of Road Cleaners for Plaistow North

If there is one issue that Mehmood Mirza has campaigned on consistently over the past four years, it is the state of the roads. He has persistently highlighted the issues of litter and fly-tipping. It seems that all of his efforts have at last paid off.

On November 23rd, coincidentally, the day of the Plaistow byelection, a cohort of cleaners accompanied by two motorized sweepers and several vans descended on the streets of Plaistow North. It may be that this sudden clean-up campaign had been planned before the by-election was called. But we’d be skeptical of that.

The unexpected, but nonetheless welcome, appearance of so many clean-up staff had all the hallmarks of a panicked attempt to regain some influence in the ward. The trouble is that it seems to have been a little too late. The opposition clearly saw this as a cynical attempt to curry favour with voters, and an attempt that would be short lived.

By a strange coincidence, we had two motorised cleaners outside a polling station…

…and two trucks picking up rubbish.

…and several staff.

Please let us know if your street has benefitted from a small army of cleaners, particularly if you don't live opposite a polling station.