Colchester retailers tell council to 'sort the rubbish out'

Shop owners in Crouch Street, Colchester, are regularly confronted with household rubbish strewn across their entrances, and for those with outdoor seating, it is bothering customers.

Although they suspect the refuse belongs to the occupants of several flats in the street, they say they are powerless to do anything about it.

April Moodie, who relocated Nourish vegan cafe to Crouch Street in March, has had her streak of five-star reviews tarnished by a displeased diner a a result of the mess.

After praising the food, the customer said sitting on the left side of the cafe, given it was “such a hot day” was “too near to the garbage for my liking”.

The 27-year-old said: “It’s quite an embarrassing topic.

“Customers are probably aware the rubbish isn’t ours but I imagine people would feel quite rude mentioning it.

“Sometimes there’s so much it’s obviously not ours, and some of it is really gross.

“Where they leave rubbish is literally right on our doorstep.

“Even when I get here in the morning there are sometimes birds scavenging in it, which I guess is bound to happen when there’s so much rubbish in the town centre and food establishments around.”

Sam Richfield, 26, was warned before he took over the Vapers Lounge, also in Crouch Street, rubbish was an issue and he said bags are continuing to be dumped in plain sight.

He said: “Lots of people comment on the rubbish and I just have to agree with them but luckily they’ve not left me any bad reviews because of it.

“I want the council to pull their finger out and put a better system in place where special exceptions are made for areas like this because it’s affecting small businesses in the town centre.”

Giving flats wheelie bins, increasing rubbish collections for town centre properties as well as doing pick-ups earlier in the day are a few solutions the pair have come up with.

April added: “I’ve even noticed in my area it used to be that the bins were collected between 6am and 9am, and now sometimes I’ll go home at lunchtime and they’re still there which gives the opportunity for them to be ripped open.”

Colchester Council spokesman said a number of reports about the issue have been received in the past but there are no reports of more recent complaints.

He said: “Following the reports, our zone wardens carried out educational visits in the area, which included reminding residents of their collection day and advising them we would accept their rubbish and recycling bags being put out after 5pm the evening before.

“Following that advice, four fixed penalty notices were subsequently issued to the offenders, and we’re continuing to monitor the situation to ensure these incidents don’t reoccur.”

‘Rubbish’ uni students must try a bit harder

RESIDENTS living near student accommodation say more education on waste collections is needed. 

Essex University students who live in Elmstead Road, Triumph Close and Mascot Square, in Colchester, are said to be “ignoring” the waste collection rules which have now been in place for a year. 

A resident who lives nearby said she has had enough of the streets looking messy. 

She said: “They know where they need to put the rubbish, they have been given black bins. 

“But they just don’t do it, they just dump them outside. They are supposed to stick to three bags and then the bin men don’t take them because they are all just piled up.”

She said some extra rubbish bags are left outside for weeks. 

A university spokesman said residents can get in touch directly if they need to by emailing community@essex.ac.uk.

Colchester waste boss Martin Goss said students may be eligible for an extra bag exemptions.