Salon dismayas alleywayrubbish returns

Michele Meyer and Shelly Ellis of MJM hair studio, Western Road, say despite regularly complaining to Rother District Council (RDC) rubbish in the alley adjoining their premises is out of control.

Shortly after the Observer photographed Shelly and the debris, which included a discarded Christmas tree, the area was cleared but within days it began to accumulate again.

Shelly said: “That rubbish had been mounting up since before Christmas but it wasn’t cleared until April!

“Now look at it, rubbish everywhere again. We’re fed-up with it.”

Iron gates are situated at the entrance to the alley and directly behind MJM’s are a number of residential flats.

Michele believes the problem could stem from either RDC’s refuse collectors refusing to go into the alley or the refuse not being put in the right place to be collected.

In addition, staff at MJM’s regularly has to deal with irate members of the public complaining about the mess.

Michele said: “People often knock on the door, or come in and have a go at us about all the litter as if we put it there! We tell them that it has nothing to do with us.

“Plus, all that rubbish is a haven for seagulls who just make it worse. It’s disgusting that it’s not picked up and it makes me angry.”

But RDC say they can’t clear the rubbish under the waste contract because the area it’s on is private land however, when it becomes a problem to human health they can and will deal with offenders accordingly.

A spokesman said: “We treat this dumping as an example of anti-social behaviour and in this case the council is working hard to identify the offenders and, where appropriate, we will report them for prosecution.

“This alleyway was previously cleared at the expense of the council, as it was prejudicial to human health.

“Unfortunately we can only act to clear the area when this health risk is present, as the land is not public, but privately owned.

“Therefore the dumping that takes place is not managed by our waste collection contractors, but is a matter for our environmental health team to investigate when it reaches this stage.

“We will do our best to bring these offenders to justice and make it clear to anyone else dumping rubbish that we have zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour in Rother.

“We would urge anyone with a similar problem to contact the council in the first instance on 01424 787000.”

Pictured: Michelle Ellis of the MJM Hair Salon, Bexhill with the litter strewn along the alley next to the salon that should have been collected dh18004