Wheelie Bins – AGAIN

This could be your home next month!

WANT THEM OR NOT – YOU’RE GETTING THEM

 

North Lanarkshire Council has decided that they will be delivering a Blue wheeled bin to every household in Westfield within the next week.  Then they will follow this with a Grey bin within a fortnight after. 

I have been involved in my local community for over 20 years and I have never, in all my experience,  known of any local authority to be so blatant in their disregard and disrespect of the views and opinions of the local community.  At Westfield Community Council’s monthly meeting on 11^th March 2009, none of the NLC representatives present, Mr Ken Wilson, Mr Hugh Frew or Mr Jim Brown, made any mention of their intention to impose their dictatorial decision to issue wheelie bins on the residents of Westfield.  For many years now the residents of Westfield have resisted the issue of these bins, not because we are against recycling but because of two simple reasons:

1.    No where to store them as many of the residents do not have gardens.

2.    No where to present them as we do not have a kerbside and this results in NLC cleansing operatives abandoning them at their backside when emptied, obstructing the car parks. 

 

Two simple reasons that are within the NLC management capabilities to resolve but they are either unwilling or unable to even attempt.  Instead they send representatives to our meetings where they misrepresent the facts, disrespect the chair, insult the residents and embellish the reality to suit their own agenda.  Then when challenged they say they will be sending people around the doors to discuss and assess the implications of introducing a wheeled bin service with the residents. 

What happened?  They came round the doors and told us we would be getting a blue bin within the week.  Only when pressed did I elicit further information that the grey bin will follow and that there will be a fortnightly uplift of household waste, Blue bin with recycled waste one week and alternate Grey bin with household waste the next.  None of this was mentioned at our meeting.   

I don’t know about you but I was brought up to think that there were names for people who say they will do one thing and deliberately mislead you in the full knowledge they have other intentions.  And I am saddened to say that North Lanarkshire Council are making every effort to live up to every one of them.   

So what next?  Write to your Councillors, MSP and North Lanarkshire Council.  Let them know what you think and make your points heard. 

For details of contact numbers and addresses see Councillors and MSPs tag on this website:  http://westfield.wordpress.com 

 

Do You Love Westfield?

I received a comment from someone who grew up in Westfield, married a Westfield lass and is considering moving back to Westfield. However, on a recent visit to the area they were quite taken aback and decided to pose the comment below:

….we are considering buying house in Westfield and as I visit my parents on a regular basis I can’t help but feel Westfield is going downhill. For example, when I walk the dog I could never remember there being so much litter i.e. Buckfast bottles, the ongoing problems with the bus shelters, and the sad prospects of an outdoor cash machine and telephone box. I feel Westfield needs to change drastically and something has to be done.

The community of Westfield, where are its problems, where the problems are coming from, what action is being done or what action could be done? …

Personally I have lived in Westfield for over 30 years and even though I have thought of moving out to different areas I have never done so. Why, because it is an excellent place to live, to have brought up my children and now my grandson, who also lives here. The people are helpful and supportive and extremely friendly. Yes, the area has gone downhill in those 30 years but that is a reflection of society in all areas and not just a problem within Westfield. However, that does not mean that we should be complacent. We all need to do our bit. Respect each other and be intolerant of those who abuse that respect.

One of the biggest problems within our society is that we turn to others to fix our problems. We pass all responsibility and accountability to anyone else and set up a ‘Nothing to do with me’ culture, sticking our heads out of our little protected cocoon, complain and then pop it back in again before anyone can see who we are. Many are so protectionist that they would rather complain in silence, bemoaning to their friends and colleagues rather than pick up the phone and give power to those in authority to act.

What is the solution? It might sound like an over simplification but GET INVOLVED IN THE COMMUNITY. Nothing will change until we change ourselves. I know that Westfield Community Council if full of old fogies. And that is not because we designed it that way. It is simply that young people aren’t coming up and taking part.

Be selfish, look after number one and create a community that will stick together and protect us all when we need it. If the Community Council or your politicians are not doing what you want them to do then kick them out. I would like nothing better than to spend the second Wednesday every month in front of the TV but I care about where I live and I care about what happens around me.

What action is being done? It is well known that I am not a fan of North Lanarkshire Council. However, Westfield is now getting a reasonable share of NLC regeneration funding. There are projects going on at the rear of Tomtain and discussions around the inclusion around the school to include the community halls etc. NLC also welcome any other proposals for consideration. That said, we are a small Community Council and we are limited in the support we can give to NLC so again it is about involvement. The greater the activity of the Community Council the greater NLC will provide funds.

There is an old Scottish saying ‘The girnin’ bairn gets fed first”, and in Westfield we don’t girn loud enough.

The upshot, to all reading this posting – If you love Westfield and want to make a difference then come and join us at the Community Council meeting and get heard. We hold our meetings on the second Wednesday of each month.

 

 

New Councillors and MSP Page Tab Above

Anyone who has ever visited North Lanarkshire Council’s website will realise that it is not the easiest website to navigate round. I was recently looking for contact details of all local councillors, and even though I knew the information was on North Lanarkshire’s website, it took me 20 minutes to find exactly what I was looking for. I have therefore, inserted a new Page Tab above titled: Councillors and MSPs. Here you will find details of their Surgeries and contact details.

Is there anybody out there?

Sometimes, when talking to North Lanarkshire Council. it feels as if it would be easier to use a psychic medium. For the past two years NLC have been promising that wheeled bins will be uplifted from the point of presentation, it has never happened so far but the promises still keep on coming – that the wheeled bins will be returned to where the householder left them. At present there is a very small minority of Westfield residents that have wheeled bins yet it is the majority, who have rejected them that are faced with the wheeled bin the obstacle course. There is nothing worse than having to manoeuvre around these abandoned monstrosities in car parks every Tuesday morning (see pictured).

So if you are one of the majority, living in Westfield who is sick and tired of North Lanarkshire Council’s inability to issue simple instructions to their workforce and to ensure that they are implemented, then please contact Mr. William Burns, Cleansing Services Manager, at North Lanarkshire Council and let him know ( 01698 302023 ). Hopefully he will get fed up with telephone calls and do something about it.

Zero Playgroup Provision

I have just become a granddad and when this happens, your mind and focus turns towards the bairns. So I went looking for pre-school nursery provision in North Lanarkshire Council. Not that the bairn is ready yet but there are some families in Westfield who depend on nursery provision. Look at the statistics.

Area	Percentage of Population Aged 0 – 5	Full Time Equivalent Places
1. POSTAL CODE ML1- MOTHERWELL	6.5% OF TOTAL POPULATION	210
2. POSTAL CODE ML2 – WISHAW	6.3% OF TOTAL POPULATION	160
3. POSTAL CODE ML4 – BELLSHILL	6.7% OF TOTAL POPULATION	80
4. POSTAL CODE ML5 – COATBRIDGE	6.7% OF TOTAL POPULATION	211
5. POSTAL CODE ML6 – AIRDRIE	6.6% OF TOTAL POPULATION	309
6. POSTAL CODE h4L7 – SHOTTS	6.6% OF TOTAL POPULATION	90
7 . POSTAL CODE G65 - KlLSYTH	6.6% OF TOTAL POPULATION	120
8. POSTAL CODE G67 – CUMBERNAULD	6.8% OF TOTAL POPULATION	120
9. POSTAL CODE G68 – WESTFIELD	6.6% OF TOTAL POPULATION	NIL
10. POSTAL CODE G69 – MUIRHEAD	6.2% OF TOTAL POPULATION	40

 

Look at number 9 – Westfield. Is it little wonder the residents of Westfield often feel like the forgotten? All other postcode areas have a similar percentage of the population where the kids are between 0 and 5 years of age. Yet ONLY Westfield has Nil, Zero, Nought, Zilch, Nada, full time nursery provision.

The full report can be viewed at this link. http://www.runurl.com/xx.php?nvu [shortened for clarity]

 

RE-ALLOCATION OF LAND AT WESTFIELD ROAD, CUMBERNAULD

At a Meeting of the POLICY AND RESOURCES (PROPERTY) SUB-COMMITTEE on the 4^th November – The Head of Property Services was authorised to transfer land extending to 2.43 hectares, or thereby, at Westfield Road, Cumbernauld, from Corporate Services to Environmental Services to facilitate the construction of a recycling centre. The location referred to in the report is just behind D M Design. In the drawing opposite Westfield Estate is at the top right. North Lanarkshire Council are committed to building 4 recycling centres in order to comply with the Environmental standards but what concerns me is that between the proposed site and Westfield houses is Moss Water, a small burn that feeds Broadwood Loch. I am sure that the plans will include a bunding provision to guarantee that any contaminated waste water won’t leach into the burn and pollute the Loch and that NLC have the appropriate controls in place to ensure the air around any recycling plant is free of pollutants.

 

Click on the picture opposite to see the full report.

Council Tax Rebanding

Do you know that you could be entitled to hundreds of pounds for over payment of your Council Tax. Hundreds of houses in North Lanarkshire have been placed in the wrong Council Tax Band since 1992. Hundreds of families have struggled to meet their Council Tax payments every month while NLC were knowingly over charging. Know what really gets me? North Lanarkshire Council has rebanded all its own properties and kept quiet that those in Westfield who bought their CDC Home were entitled to do the same. For the last 25 years many of us have been in the wrong Council Tax Band.

OK so what can you do about it?

Make a claim. However, it isn’t that easy because the law says that you have only six months in which to make your claim. And since NLC kept their gobs shut, those affected are out of time. Claim anyway. You will get a letter stating that you are out of time so appeal against the decision.

I was chairman of the Westfield Residents Association at the time and I am also a member of the present Community Council and I can assure you that neither I nor anyone else I have spoken to were made aware of the banding anomaly, our rights as residents or any other reference to rebanding from NLC, then or now. It was thanks to a chance meeting with a friend that it came to light.

So get your claim in now.

Information can be found on Martin Lewis’s website.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/council-tax-bands-change

Good luck.

 

Does Blackwood have the Rat Problem?

In the Cumbernauld News article regarding rats in Westfield, Jamie Hepburn was misquoted. I have heard back from Jamie Hepburn’s office and have been told that the article in the Cumbernauld News was a misquote. Jamie did not refer to rats in Westfield but was instead referring to Blackwood.  Now it would not surprise me if Blackwood residents were experiencing an increase in the rat population. Many years ago to the east of Blackwood there was a rubbish tip, located around the stadium car park area and as we all know where there is rubbish there is also a haven for rats. Likewise Blackwood is next to the pond and various water courses and where there is water there is usually a higher concentration of rats.

Whether we like them or not, rats are one of Nature’s bin men. Their job is to clear away debris and waste so migrate to areas where this is accumulated: sewers, ponds, rivers, backstreets, rubbish tips, etc. Normally we never see them as they are quite timid creatures preferring the dark and secluded places. However, with the introduction of fortnightly refuse collection we are providing them with a ready meal, a ready meal that will give off a decomposing necrotic scent telegraphing where to come and eat. Unfortunately this will be in people’s back gardens and garages. And as Blackwood, which is a beautiful area, is right next to the rats existing habitat then, as I said, it wouldn’t surprise me if they see an increase in rat population.

Is there an Increase in Rats?

There was a recent article in the Cumbernauld News and the last paragraph mentioned a comment by Jamie Hepburn MSP regarding an increase in Rats and vermin within Westfield. The reason cited was the change in North Lanarkshire Council’s refuse Collection Policy to Fortnightly Uplifts. Which is a bit weird as NLC still operate a weekly collection in Westfield. So I asked around and although residents did highlight their fears of an increase in vermin IF the refuse collection changed to fortnightly, no one I asked had experienced an increase as yet. I then contacted Jamie’s Office and they have agreed to look into the history behind the statement. However, they did put forward a possible excuse: Jamie sent out several thousand flyers to Cumbernauld residents and from the received responses there were several that mentioned the possible problem with rats and linking them to the fortnightly uplift of the wheeled bins. Perhaps that is the problem but as we still have the weekly collection then nothing has changed so how the link of rats and Westfield came about we as yet do not know.

Jamie’s office has promised to keep me informed as to the background to the statement.

In the meantime – If you have any pests that you want rid of them then North Lanarkshire Council offer a free Pest Control service to all its residents. Click Here for details

Treatment provided (taken from NLC website [15/7/2008])
The following pests will be treated free of charge in residential properties:

• Rats
  
• Mice
  
• Wasps
  
• Bees
  
• Fleas
  
• Bed bugs
  

In addition to the treatment provided for the above, certain other insects may also be treated, and free pest control advice is available on most other pests.

The Community Council are unaware of any problems with rats in Westfield but if you know differently then please drop us a comment and we will look into it.

Problems with the Phone Line

Virgin Media Customers – Westfield residents who are customers of Virgin Media may have experienced a loss pf service last month.  I have it on good authority that if you did lose service and make a formal complaint there is a good chance that you will get a refund of your costs.  In addition if you can also prove that you were forced to use a mobile phone because of the lost service you can also make a claim for this.  Alan Devlin, Chair of the Westfield Community Council has already managed to reclaim some money from Virgin Media.