New Brown Bin Service comes to Holderness

THE ROLL OUT of the new Brown Bin service, which will allow food waste and cardboard to be put into the Brown Bins, has started in Holderness.

By the end of July up to 150,000 households across the East Riding will be putting food waste and cardboard into the brown bin, so that it can be sent for composting.

Once households have received a brown caddy and information pack, food waste, including plate scraps and bones, and cardboard can be put into the brown bin.

Further details of the new service are available on the council’s recycling website, www.target45plus.org.uk - New kitchen, cardboard and garden waste collection.

Food Waste and Cardboard Information Leaflet

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Yorkshire Water on Leaks and Frozen Pipes

THE BIG FREEZE currently blighting the whole of the Yorkshire Region has seen a 60% increase in customer calls to Yorkshire Water to report possible leaks and frozen water pipes. The company has been busier than usual on the ground too attending around 68 bursts a day – a 23% increase on the same period last year.

The company is calling for the public to help them in reporting leaks by calling its Free Leakline number 0800 57 35 53.

Yorkshire Water currently has 140 people working on leakage detection - a 15% increase on this time last year - and is recruiting an additional 120 people to focus in this area between January and March 2011. However, the company still rely on people flagging up problems in their area. Tony O'Shea, who is the network optimisation manager at Yorkshire Water, said:

"Our customers played a huge role in flagging up bursts last Winter, enabling our teams to get out quickly to carry out the necessary repairs and we'd once again urge them as our eyes and ears on the ground, to get in touch with us if they spot a leak by calling our freephone Leakline number."

Yorkshire Water have also issued advice on protecting water pipes from the freezing conditions.

Customers are advised to:

• Keep your home heated during a very cold snap - set your timer to constant or 24 hours and use your thermostat to maintain some warmth through the night and whilst you're out. 
• Wrap all pipework, cisterns and tanks in unheated areas like lofts, roofs, outbuildings and garages with insulation, using good quality waterproof foam lagging that meets the requirements of British Standard 6700 and Water Supply Regulation. 
• Get to know your stop taps! The main one is often found under the kitchen sink and you'll need to turn them off quickly if there's a burst. 

For further information and an audio guide on how to protect your pipes this winter, customers can visit the Frost Protection webpage on the Yorkshire Water website.

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Meet the Buyers - and boost local trade!

MEET THE BUYERS EVENT:

The Federation of Small Businesses is staging a Meet the Buyers event on Tuesday 16th November from 4.00pm to 6.00pm at Costco Wholesale, Parkway Drive, Sheffield S9 4WU. The aim of the event is to encourage large public sector organisations to buy services and contracts from local firms.

It is estimated that the combined purchasing power of the organisations planning to attend Meet the Buyers event is in excess of £1.8 billion annually!

Let us hope that some local Holderness firms can have a slice of that pie!

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MP states views on Hilston Wind Farm application

THE SMALL HAMLET of Hilston in Holderness is the proposed location of a Wind Farm to be constructed by European wind-energy developers EnergieKontor (UK) Ltd. The East Riding Council refused the planning application, but EnergieKontor have appealed to the Government. The same company is also behind an application to build a Wind Farm at Withernwick, which was successful after a similar appeal to the Government (see Withernwick Village Website).

Graham Stuart MP has published a letter (reproduced on Google Docs) to the Hilston Planning Inquiry and set out his views. The MP expresses his concern for the people who live in Holderness who appear to have no control over the environment in which they live. Whilst he states that he is not anti-wind farm and he believes that local people are more than willing to do their bit for the national interest, he derides the fact that companies resort to legal action to win their case.

"...it is so wrong that companies are barely consulting locally but spending fortunes on lawyers to drive through decisions on appeal. The key principle is that local people, not some government inspector, should decide what happens in their area." He continued "...I am against the apparent race by some developers to cash in on the large subsidies available for wind power generation to the detriment of those who are forced to live with the consequences. This rush needs to be kept in check and a balance struck."

The Planning Inquiry is continuing.

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Police conduct "Mischief Night" campaign

HOLDERNESS NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING TEAMS are conducting a campaign within the area to highlight the problems caused over the period leading up to - and directly after - "Mischief Night" traditionally 'celebrated' on 4th November.

The campaign, under the heading “Your Mischief Their Misery” will run until 7th November and will comprise the following elements: 

1. A poster and leaflet campaign throughout the South East, South West and Mid Holderness area highlighting this problem. 

2. High visibility patrols in the areas where problems have occurred. 

3. Visits by the Neighbourhood Policing Team to retailers of eggs and flour to discourage sales to children and young people over this period.

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Council recognised in 'Best Service Team' awards

EAST RIDING council’s streetscene team has been given a customer service excellence award which recognises the team’s innovative ways of working (see the Association of Public Service Excellence website). The team were finalists in the Best Service Team: Building/Facilities Cleaning category.

Assessors were particularly impressed with the way staff work closely with communities to provide the services they want. Two schemes in particular were singled out as showing best practice. The first was a pilot in the Holderness area to improve service delivery by training staff to take on several roles in rural parishes. The second is a consultation with residents in an area of Bridlington about what they would like to see planted.

The pilot scheme in Holderness has seen staff who have traditionally taken on grounds maintenance roles trained to carry out a wider range of tasks including grass cutting, strimming and sweeping, minor pothole repairs, sign washing, litter-bin painting, and pruning hedges including those over-hanging signs and footways.

Small teams of around three were given specific villages in the pilot area to work in, which they visited every three weeks during the summer months. Communities representatives have been consulted on the work they would like to see done, and for their feedback on what has been achieved.

At the same Awards Event in September, Hull City Council were not only recognised as finalists in the Overall Council of the Year category, but the council-owned contractor Kingstown Works Ltd actually beat the competition to win the Best Information and Communication Technology Initiative.

Links: 

East Riding Council

Hull City Council

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Red Dye Sea Testing

Note: Not an actual photo of  the dye

Residents and holidaymakers are being urged not to be concerned if they spot large plumes of red water in the sea off the coast of Skipsea and Withernsea from Monday 11th to Sunday 17th October 2010.

Yorkshire Water is conducting environmentally friendly dye-tests in a bid to build a greater understanding of how its sewer outfalls at both locations can impact on the quality of local bathing waters.

The company, which is planning to invest £110 million over the next five years to meet new environmental standards, is monitoring how long it takes for discharges to reach the sea and the effect of underwater currents and tides.

Bathing Water Strategy Manager Lee Pitcher said the dye will have no impact on fish, birds, or other wildlife.

“The dye itself is completely inert and is not harmful in any way to plants and wildlife. Over the course of the seven days, we'll be releasing different volumes from our outfalls and then tracking where it goes. This testing is hugely beneficial as it should give us a clearer picture of how our outfalls operate and the impact they have, helping to inform our planning around future investment. This activity has to be undertaken during the bathing season to ensure that it takes into account weather and environmental conditions that are typical of the season to ensure that we fully understand the impact of our sewer outfalls." 

Dye-testing was undertaken in Scarborough and Bridlington back in 2008, with similar work recently completed at Filey, Staithes, Runswick Bay, Sandsend, Whitby and Robin Hoods Bay.

Source: Yorkshire Water press release

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