Uncollected Christmas trees clog Wandsworth streets
By James Mayer, Local Democracy Reporter
A borough has agreed it needs to spruce up its act after it was dubbed the ‘French Alps’ – because a forest of Christmas trees have been left abandoned on its streets.
The old spruce trees have been pilling up on the pavements of Furzedown in Wandsworth – although other boroughs don’t even bother to collect them.
The council said its staff had been “working flat out” to clear the backlog of 100,000 festive trees still littering the borough.
The authority said the collections, coupled with contractor staff absences due to Covid, was taking longer than hoped.
But residents took to Twitter to express their anger and concern over the trees that they said were dangerous to people who were visually impaired or had a disability.
Adam Seymour-Davies, a director at Aspire Furzedown, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It’s like the French Alps in Furzedown.
“Furzedown is a wonderful area to live and work. Our community cares about our neighbourhood and it’s such a shame to see the council not living up to their promises of free Christmas tree collections.”
“I’m concerned for those with visual impairment and those with mobility issues – the pavements are blocked all over the neighbourhood.”
The same seems to be happening in other parts of the borough.
Kat Storr said on Twitter: “Same issue over here in Tooting Graveney. It’s 18th Jan and there are around 15 trees still all over the place on our short street.
“Please can you sort this asap? I’ve flagged this 4/5 times now.”
Maureen Docherty also said on Twitter: “I’ve noticed rather a lot of Christmas trees waiting patiently for collection around my area of Wandsworth… advice please.”
A Wandsworth council spokesperson said: “We are working flat out to clear all the trees that residents want collected, but with around 100,000 in total, this is a task that always takes some time to complete.
“Coupled with a high rate of contractor staff absence due to Covid, it is taking slightly longer than we’d hoped for – which is why we are asking our residents to please bear with us while we continue these efforts.
“It is perhaps also worth pointing out that not every borough provides a free doorstep collection service as is the case in Wandsworth.
“Some boroughs don’t collect at all while others require their residents to deliver their trees to centralised drop-off points, resulting in more journeys by car.”
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