From: Dudding, Ian <Ian.Dudding@camden.gov.

uk>
Sent: 23 July 2019 13:34
To: Owen Ward
Subject: RE: Bloomsbury Litter

Thank you Mr Ward – see you on Thursday.

Regards
--
Ian Dudding
Borough Monitoring Manager
London Borough of Camden

From: Owen Ward

Sent: 23 July 2019 11:22
To: Dudding, Ian <Ian.Dudding@camden.gov.uk>
Subject: Re: Bloomsbury Litter

Good morning,

That sounds good - yes a walk would be useful. Thank you very much for making the effort
to come here.

Best regards,
Owen

From: Dudding, Ian <Ian.Dudding@camden.gov.uk>

Sent: 23 July 2019 10:23
To: Owen Ward
Subject: RE: Bloomsbury Litter

Good morning Mr Ward

How about 1pm, Thursday 25th July ’19, outside the Dolphin? (We can then walk the areas you have
described.)

Regards
--
Ian Dudding
Borough Monitoring Manager
London Borough of Camden

From: Owen Ward

Sent: 23 July 2019 09:46
To: Dudding, Ian <Ian.Dudding@camden.gov.uk>
Subject: Re: Bloomsbury Litter
Dear Mr Dudding,

Thursday afternoon sounds good to me, I have nothing planned for that time. Where will
this meeting be?

Best regards,
Owen Ward

From: Dudding, Ian <Ian.Dudding@camden.gov.uk>

Sent: 22 July 2019 16:22
To: Owen Ward
Subject: Re: Bloomsbury Litter

Good afternoon Mr Ward

I am out of the office right now (so unhelpfully trying to scrutinise my calendar on my phone),
but can I get back to you tomorrow please when I can check properly?
(Early indications are that sometime Thursday afternoon might be fine for me, but please do
let me know if that's not so good for you.)
Have a good evening.
Regards
Ian D. Dudding
Borough Monitoring Manager
London Borough of Camden
Email: ian.dudding@camden.gov.uk

From: Owen Ward

Sent: Monday, 22 July, 14:04
Subject: Re: Bloomsbury Litter
To: Dudding, Ian
Dear Mr Dudding,
Thank you very much for your response, it is very welcome. I imagine that your schedule is
much busier than mine. If you give me any time over the next few days I should be able to
make it. I have a meeting at 10:00-11:00 tomorrow, but that is all that is not flexible.
Best regards,
Owen Ward
From: Dudding, Ian <Ian.Dudding@camden.gov.uk>
Sent: 22 July 2019 13:26
To: Owen Ward
Subject: Bloomsbury Litter

Good afternoon Mr Ward

I have been made aware of your recent communications with Councillor Harrison and my
colleague Matthew Lane.

It is of course your prerogative to take legal proceedings, however, there is an overriding test
of reasonable practicability that the courts will apply, and this is the same premise that we
apply to funding and managing our operations. (i.e. it is clearly not viable to have a sweeper
permanently stationed in every street in the borough sweeping up every bit of litter as soon
as it is dropped.)
If it is of help to you I would be happy to meet with you to discuss how our street cleansing
operates, and in the context of the DEFRA Code of Practice.

Perhaps you could suggest possible times / dates for consideration?

Regards
--
Ian Dudding
Borough Monitoring Manager
London Borough of Camden

From: Owen Ward

Sent: 18 July 2019 14:07
To: Lane, Matthew <Matthew.Lane@camden.gov.uk>
Subject: Re: Bloomsbury Litter

Dear Mr Lane,

Thank you for your comprehensive response to my enquiries.

It is interesting what you say about Veolia - I have had problems with them in the past as
well. However it seems that legally (and if I do end up taking the case to the Magistrates'
Court, it will be a nationally significant point of interest) Camden Council is still ultimately
responsible for maintaining the streets to the standards set out in the Code, even if
alternative arrangements have been made with Veolia. It seems that even if it is the fault of
Veolia that a street was kept unclean - fines etc will be placed on Camden (although of
course I suppose Camden can send a bill to Veolia).
So it seems that in fact my particular road of Hastings Street, being within 200m of tourist
attractions, should have a maximum response time of half a day. I don't think anybody
expects Camden to stick to such a stringent time scale in practice, but at least it gives
people like me some leverage.
Also thank you for the email address. I think it is a shame that you are leaving the Council -
you have done a lot to help, even though it seems the Council have misinformed you about
the scope, length, and seriousness of my complaints. I will take up the matter with the new
officer.

Best regards,
Owen Ward
From: Lane, Matthew <Matthew.Lane@camden.gov.uk>
Sent: 18 July 2019 11:50
To: Owen Ward
Cc: Borg, Gary
Subject: RE: Bloomsbury Litter

Dear Mr Ward

Thank you for your email.

I should probably start my response by advising this is actually my last day working at
Camden Council. I have copied in my colleague Gary who will be taking over the Kings
Cross ward from me, certainly as an interim arrangement. Gary is on annual leave currently
but back in work next week.
Apologies again for the recent drop in street cleansing standards around Queen Alexandra
Mansions. Now that the regular sweeper is back in work I would expect the overall standards
in the area to increase. We still measure the standard of street cleansing using the nationally
recognised Code of Practise grading system. However, in 2017 we signed a new contract
with Veolia to deliver the street cleansing and waste collections which is ‘outcomes based’.

This means that the Council no longer define the sweeping frequencies based on land use
(zones). The responsibility is on our contractor to maintain all the streets within the borough
to the agreed standards, sweeping each street as often as necessary to do so. The premise
being there is more flexibility in this model and it is a more efficient way of using the
resources, which have over the years been affected by central government cuts. They will
still have their own baseline sweeping schedules to work. I know most of the residential
streets in the Kings Cross area are still swept a minimum of twice a week. The main roads
such as Judd Street are swept daily.

If a street falls below the required standard, it must then be brought up to a Grade A within
24 hours of it being reported. I am sure Gary can monitor this once I have left. We would
encourage reports of litter, fly-tipping etc to go directly into our street cleansing team. The
quickest way to do this is via the Clean Camden app, but for those without access to the app
there is also email uk.occamden@veolia.com and phone 020 7974 2202.

We do have some signs but they do have more of an enforcement tone than educational.
Unfortunately we don’t have the resources to create bespoke signage for different streets.

I hope this helps.

Kind Regards
--
Matthew Lane
Senior Area Monitoring Officer
Telephone: 020 7974 4393

From: Owen Ward

Sent: 17 July 2019 15:47
To: matt.lane@camden.gov.uk; Lane, Matthew <Matthew.Lane@camden.gov.uk>; Hutton-
Parr, Jahnelle <Jahnelle.Hutton-Parr@camden.gov.uk>
Subject: FW: Bloomsbury Litter

Dear Mr Lane,

I am having to guess at your email address.

Thank you for your response. I was not just complaining about the streets around QAM, but
the whole of Bloomsbury. Unfortunately if those are not cleaned to a similar standard the
litter abatement notice period still stands. I am however pleased that the roads around my
residence have been cleaned to an excellent standard compared to the standard before. I
noticed that even the weeds outside the Town Hall had been removed.
I am not sure how much you have been told about my complaints, but it was not simply one
complaint, but many. I even kept a photo diary and sent daily updates, which I will continue
to do to monitor the streets myself in case the complaint is indeed sent to the Magistrates'
Court. I am very disappointed that it took so much effort to get the streets cleaned. My first
concerns were raised last month, in fact, and if you would like to see those concerns, I can
forward you the email.
I am glad at the news of a new bin on the corner of Hastings and Tonbridge Street - that is
exactly the place where I think it will be most useful. I will only further add that it would be
best if that bin was one of those with an ash tray thing on the top - many people like to sit on
the steps of QAM and Hastings House and smoke.
I am unsure of your personal remit in this area. Litter in this area has been a continual
problem. Indeed sweepers are often sent out and do a pretty good job, but the base level of
littering in such a residential area is quite unprecedented - compare to Hampstead Town, for
example. I think more needs to be done to try and prevent littering in the first place. The
headmistress of Argyle School raised concerns about littering and fly tipping as well. I
wonder if you know the 'zone' classification of this area, given that it is outside a primary
school?
Perhaps more signage notifying people of the residential and educational nature of the area
would do us a lot of good. Not notices that are overtly threatening with fines and such -
something more neighbourly in nature. In my view, the problem is that passers-by do not
really appreciate that the area really is residential. They come from St Pancras, or Kings
Cross, etc, and sit around as the area is quiet, and smoke and eat and chuck stuff on the
floor. It is a shame that such behaviour is commonplace on high streets etc - but it certainly
should not be commonplace here. I don't know if you perhaps have any ideas to help this - I
know you are a monitoring officer, rather than a 'prevention' officer - but perhaps you know
somebody that could help.
Again, thank you for going some way to fixing and explaining these issues.

Best regards,
Owen Ward

From: Hutton-Parr, Jahnelle <Jahnelle.Hutton-Parr@camden.gov.uk>

Sent: 17 July 2019 14:57
To: Owen Ward
Cc: Simpson, Jonathan (Councillor); Gould, Georgia (Councillor); Harrison, Adam
(Councillor); Habte, Liya
Subject: Bloomsbury Litter

Dear Owen,

I am writing to you regarding the issues you raised on street cleaning around Queen
Alexandra Mansions.

Thank you for your patience regarding this matter. Cllrs Gould, Harrison, and Simpson have
received the response below from officers on your behalf:

“Thank you for raising the below email on behalf of Mr Ward.

Firstly I would apologise for the standard of cleanliness in the streets around Queen
Alexandra Mansions over the last week. The regular sweeper has been on annual leave and
the covering sweeper had simply not been doing an adequate job. However this should have
been monitored more closely, something we have now addressed for any future periods of
cover.

The streets have received a thorough sweep this morning and will be monitored closely for
the next few weeks. The regular sweeper is now back so I hope there will be no further
issues, but I would encourage Mr Ward to continue using the Clean Camden App or phoning
020 7974 2202 to report any fly-tips, litter or other street cleansing issues. I can see that Mr
Ward reported litter in Hastings Street and the surrounding streets on 13/7/19. This should
have been investigated within 24 hours, and rectified if deemed to be below the required
standards. I am sorry this wasn’t the case on this occasion; something that has been raised
with the management team at Veolia so as to avoid future repeats.

Finally, the wheely bin in Hastings Street was not left there by the Council as a measure for
litter. The bin will be removed as we believe it to have been abandoned. I have requested an
additional litter bin close to the school entrance on the corner of Hastings Street and
Tonbridge Street.

I hope this information and action meets with your satisfaction. Please do not hesitate to
contact me if you would like to discuss further.

Kind Regards
--
Matthew Lane
Senior Area Monitoring Officer”

I hope that this has been able to satisfy your concerns.

Best regards,

Jahnelle.
Jahnelle Hutton-Parr
Member Support Officer
Law and Governance
Corporate Services
London Borough of Camden
Telephone: +442079742407
Web: camden.gov.uk
Floor 3, Room 122
218 Eversholt Street
London N1C 4AG
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