Lib Dems tell Labour to Stop Messing Up Brent
After 15 years of a Labour run council, our streets are filthier than ever & anti-social behaviour is worse than ever.
The council has cut street bins, cut street cleaning, cut refuse collections. Those three changes alone would have been enough to create more mess — and start the vicious cycle which we have seen play out. But the council didn’t stop there:
- it hiked the cost of large item collections,
- it introduced the complex blue bags system,
- it is failing to ensuring HMOs have enough bins,
- and it is failing tackle late night anti-social behaviour which leads to more littering
Until the council gets the basics right, our streets will remain filthy.
Liberal Democrats are proposing solutions which have been proven to work, and highlighting where the money can come from. The combination of NCIL & a new tourist tax could go a long way to funding what is needed.
Labour-run Brent Council likes to say “Don’t mess with Brent”. Liberal Democrats are saying to the council: Stop messing with Brent, and start cleaning it up.
Sign our petition, and read our full motion below.
In Brent, we are seeing the Broken Windows theory first demonstrated in New York playing out in real time: If you open to the door to mess, you encourage more mess.
Cllr Charlie Clinton
Give Brent Back Our Bins
As a local resident I call on Brent Council to improve local street services. As a first step I support the call for reinstatement of Litter Bins in local high streets and residential areas that were taken away as a result of bad decisions made by Labour Councillors.
Motion to Brent Council — submitted by the Liberal Democrat Group
This Council notes:
A. In 15 years, Labour-run Brent Council has contributed to the visible deterioration of our streets and public spaces through:
- i. The blue bag fiasco.
- ii. Removing litter bins from our streets.
- iii. Reduced refuse collections.
- iv. Massive cost rises for the “Too Big for the Bin” service.
B. Labour-run Brent Council’s failure to:
- i. Meet the recycling targets in volumes and costs.
- ii. Ensure Houses of Multiple Occupation have enough bins.
- iii. Tackle Chewing Tobacco, causing street cleaning & public health issues.
- iv. Tackle a rise in anti-social behaviour.
C. Other Councils are taking creative steps to improve their local environment:
- i. Kingston Council has piloted AI-powered cameras and achieved an 80% reduction in fly-tipping in targeted areas.
- ii. Manchester, Edinburgh, and Liverpool explored or implemented tourist taxes to raise funds for local services and public realm improvements.
D. Liberal Democrat regularly raise these issues and call for action, but little effective action takes place.
This Council believes:
- Problems with fly-tipping, street mess, and anti-social behaviour are not isolated incidents, but the result of long-term neglect and poor decisions by the current administration. This neglect has created a vicious cycle — consistent with the “Broken Windows” theory, applied in New York City, which demonstrated that visible signs of disorder encourage more disorder.
- Brent deserves better: residents expect and deserve clean, safe, and well-maintained neighbourhoods — and they are not getting it.
This Council resolves to:
I. Use NCIL Funds to invest in.
- a. Reinstalling litter bins where needed most.
- b. Ensuring that all HMOs have sufficient bin capacity and that landlords take responsibility for waste management.
- c. Deploy AI-powered cameras in fly-tipping hotspots.
II. Introduce a local Tourist Tax, with income ringfenced for enforcement to keep the streets clean and free of anti-social behaviour — increasing funding for street cleaning teams and enforcement officers.
III. Revise working hours of Council Enforcement Officers so they cover late night-time shifts when dumping and anti-social activities take place.
IV. Give the choice of a wheelie bin in place of the blue bag as promised at Scrutiny committee held prior to the introduction of the new recycling scheme.
V. Introduce planning/licensing requirements requiring all outlets with a take to provide recycling and litter bins outside their premises and take responsibility for daily emptying to keep the bin(s) and the area around it clean.
VI. Introduce by-laws requiring outlets using or employing delivery drivers to take responsibility for their behaviour and a requirement that they cease to use them if they see them spitting or littering local streets, or taking part in any form of anti-social behaviour including causing noise in residential areas late at night.
VII. Call on the Government to implement a bottle and cans deposit scheme and pass on any surplus generated to local authorities to invest in improved litter management services.