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which began in the London Borough of Hackney spread rapidly to other
London Boroughs and places outside the capital. In Redbridge, routine
services stopped on October 1st and a settlement with the men was not
concluded until the 17th.
Emergency arrangements made to reduce the inconvenience to householders
worked remarkably well - paper sacks were issued, official
dumps were opened, containers were sited in the streets - but we were
all pleased when the dustmen returned to work on the 20th October.
Redbridge suffered less from unauthorised dumping than most other London
boroughs but, regrettably, the sites in Loxford Lane and Painters
Road, which are used by the unscrupulous at all times, were stacked
high with sacked refuse.
Work at the new G.L.C. refuse disposal plant at Edmonton has been
delayed and aeliveries from Redbridge will not now start until January
1971.
Street
Cleansing
Disturbances among the street cleansing staff are few indeed, and
if the routine is interrupted, it is usually because of the failure of a
machine or shortage of numbers. But sweepers in Redbridge and other
London boroughs were induced to support the dustmen's strike in October
and our streets vent unswept from the 3rd to the 18th. The consequences
in London generally were horrifying to the eye and several eminent
experts were persuaded by T.V. and newspaper reporters to give their
opinions about the health hazara involved. Wholly conflicting views from
authoritative sources served only to confuse and if the rate at which
litter was dropped in the streets is any criterion the public were not
impressed.
It is indeed very difficult to enlist the assistance of the British
public in this matter of keeping the streets clean, and no one faction or
age group is primari-ly to blame. In 1969 dogs were allowed to foul footpaths;
commercial vehicle drivers spilled debris from their loads; and
John Citizen dropped empty cigarette packets - just as always.
Mattresses, discarded items of furniture and the residues of do-it-your-
self activity were dumped unceremoniously in the ditches and verges of
our prettiest country lanes, and when, in one place, a fence was erected