Here is more from Cllr Priyen Patel's blog about New Malden...

This week my colleague, Cllr Ken Smith, helped a resident who was unhappy that his road - George Road in New Malden - was cluttered with lots of rubbish. Ken called the relevant officer and had the rubbish cleared up (the resident emailed back to say thank you - which happens less than many people think).
Before christmas, I was doing some canvassing in St James and spoke to a handful of residents in the same road who complained that their bins were left half-way down the road and that bits of rubbish was strewn across the road. Once I contacted the council and alerted them, the rubbish was cleared.

I have two thoughts about these small cases:

1 - The role of being a councillor is to help residents and act as a conduit between local people and the town hall. However, and as people do mention, this is not extra work we demand of the council or from the contractors: it is simply the work not being done properly and the council not having the resources to check every element of work.

2 - Having to walk half way down the road to collect your bin or having a few bits of rubbish left or dropped by bin men is not the worst thing in the world. However, people do care about where they live and rubbish, abandoned cars and dumped white goods give a clear impression of decline and of people who care little of where they live - which is not the case in St James. Secondly, even though it is a relatively small issue, these things do say something about the 'partner' attitude of the council and not the 'contractor' attitude I would take.