MADNESS

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BIODEGRADABLE BIN BAGS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE
Lynn Sellors returned home to find that binmen had removed two full bags from her compost bin and left them on her doorstep. When she rang the city council to complain she was told that, despite being specially designed to biodegrade, the bags were not suitable for the bin, which accepts garden compost, cardboard and food. A council spokeswoman said that it was hard to distinguish at a glance between ordinary plastic bags and environmentally-friendly biodegradable ones.

Mrs Sellors said that she had chosen to put her food waste in degradable bags so as to could avoid smells and leaks. She said, "Although I've been wrapping my food in newspapers, I am aware there is a smell and there is some leakage, so I have to clean my bin each time it is emptied. When I saw the biodegradable bags, I thought they were an excellent idea. Using them would make sure that I won't get maggots or flies. I know that a lot of people have suffered with the two-week collections, especially during the summer."

The council spokeswoman added, "Although in this particular case the bags may have been biodegradable, the people collecting the compost waste do not have the time to sift through all the bags and there is no way of knowing whether they are biodegradable or not. Any plastic bag found in the brown bins will be taken out or just not collected. We applaud Mrs Sellors' sentiments and it is good that people use biodegradable bags for regular waste, as that is better for landfills." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Oct/07)

NOT DISABLED ENOUGH
Stephen Twigg, who had one arm amputated owing to cancer, applied to Derby City Council for Blue Badge which would allow him to park closer to shopping areas. The council told him he did not meet the necessary criteria. The DVLA withdrew his driving licence but Mr Twigg was keen to be independent and attended a mobility roadshow, where he discovered a way to adapt a car so that he could drive again.

He bought a car and took out an £800 loan to have the system, featuring a steering knob and infra-red keypad, installed. The DVLA reinstated his licence and he was able to drive again. Mr Twigg knew that he would have trouble carrying shopping over long distances and would benefit from a Blue Badge. But the council, following Government guidelines, refused his application. There are various criteria on which people are judged to determine their eligibility for a badge.

Those who are registered blind, receive a higher rate of the mobility component of the disability living allowance, are on a war pensioner's mobility supplement, have a "permanent and substantial disability" or who have difficulty walking, all qualify. Although Mr Twigg receives disability living allowance, the level of benefit he receives is not great enough for him to qualify for a badge.

A council spokeswoman said, "Obviously we sympathise with Mr Twigg and his situation. The guidelines we use have been given to us by the Government." Amarjit Raju, chief executive of Disability Direct, said, "I do know of cases where Derby City Council has actually issued badges to people like Mr Twigg, so perhaps it's up to their discretion. I think he should be given a badge because people with upper body disabilities have mobility problems and it's very hard for them to carry things." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

CAR WASH
A dispute over a £300,000 Derby car wash has finally been resolved. The owners of Wash World in Stanhope Street, Normanton, faced having to take down large sections of their new car wash after councillors threatened to take enforcement action against them.

Derby City Council’s planning sub-committee said that the building was in breach of planning regulations. Councillors had given their approval to a car wash building of a brick design. But when it opened, council officers noticed it had been constructed mainly from yellow and blue steel cladding.

Now the threat has finally been lifted after the car wash’s owners, Spinder Ghuman and Santkh Dosanth, had brick-design cladding placed around the building. Council officers have given their approval to the building’s new look.

Mr Ghuman and Mr Dosanth collected a 550-signature petition protesting at the council’s threat to take enforcement action. At a planning sub-committee meeting held on the issue, the then planning chairman, Councillor Sara Bolton, said she had received threats on her answerphone over the issue.

She had earlier called the building an “eyesore” and said it did not fit in with its surroundings, which include Normanton Mills.

COUNCIL BENCH MYSTERY
A bench mysteriously appeared on the corner of Locko Road and West Road in Spondon. From the bemused residents to Derby City Council, who many people believed were responsible, no-one knew where the bench had come from. But the Evening Telegraph solved the mystery following a tip-off from a resident who claimed that the city council was, in fact, responsible for the bench.

The Telegraph contacted the council and, a couple of telephone calls later, the authority admitted its mistake and said that it was, in fact, responsible for installing the bench. Theresa Knight, from the council, said that it was sometimes hard to track down who was responsible for a specific job because the council was such a diverse organisation providing a wide range of services.

Mrs Knight said, "Residents' queries on who'd put the bench there had initially gone to the highways maintenance section. They didn't know anything about it, so they checked with their contractors, who also didn't know about it. The query was then passed on to sports and leisure, to the parks section and also to community organisations, who also denied all knowledge."

It turned out that the responsible party was the property services department, which looks after council-owned buildings. The bench, which cost £500, replaced one that had been taken away four months previously because it had been badly vandalised. The Mayor of Derby, Councillor Peter Berry, had requested the bench on behalf of older residents.

Eddie Spencer, a member of Spondon Village Improvement Committee, said, "It's unbelievable. The left hand doesn't seem to know what the right hand's doing. But it had to be the council as no-one else goes around putting holes in the ground and installing benches."

Mr Spencer said that the seat had already been slightly damaged but the improvement group had remedied this with some sandpaper. However, later that day, a council contractor van pulled up, removed the bench and then filled in the gap with tarmac. Derby City Council said the reason the bench was removed was because it had been vandalised for the third time in the same week and was no longer safe to be used.

Councillor Berry said, "The concrete cement that holds it in had not set and someone had pulled the bench out. In my opinion it would have collapsed if someone had sat on it. Council workers have had to take it away to repair it and they will put it back, this time with a cement that hardens faster."