To think we can't expect the council to be responsible for everything?!

[AMAcarer]

In the run-up to Bonfire night, I noticed a lot of complaints on social media about the decision of my local council NOT to hold a fireworks display, to save costs. People complained that it was a disgrace, as with the cost of living crisis children need something to look forward to, and that the council was "forcing" people to spend money to travel to other areas for displays.

This was followed up by many comments blaming the council for the rise in foodbank use, for the rise in anti-social behavior, for the rise in fuel poverty, poverty in general and how the council spending money on the annual Christmas market rather than the fireworks display was a slap in the face to parents on a low-income as their children would "have their noses rubbed in it" by their friends who had parents on a higher income and could afford to pay for some of the rides etc at the Christmas market. Yet they wanted the council to literally blow up money for a "free event" on Bonfire night which would also have had paid for rides and would be or 1 night only, whereas the Christmas event is a month-long and has many free activities and events

I have many gripes with our local council, but am I wrong to think it's utterly ridiculous to think they should be held responsible for absolutely everything, and for people to expect them to provide so many things for free? I'ts just not possible is it? They have opened up a fuel poverty scheme with ££££ of pounds put aside to help people yet some of the same people claiming from this scheme still want the money spent on bloody fireworks?! The same people who are complaining they dont get enough help to feed their kids over the holidays still want money blown up in smoke for entertainment? There has been major anti-social issues recently and of course, it's the councils fault for "not providing" for children and teenagers. My area is absolutely chock full of fantastic, cheap or even free things for children and young families to do, and for teenagers too! Many of it council provided already.

I have no children, and I have lived in EXTREME poverty in the past, I'm no stranger to food or fuel poverty, being on benefits, being on a low income, and feeling utterly helpless...but even at my lowest I still didn't expect the council to sort out every single aspect of my life. Has some of society become so expectant on others that we don't want to take any personal responsibility at all?!

Sorry for the rambling!

Completely agree. People like @MarshaMelrose make me want to bang my head against a wall.

This is the problem - too many people resenting having to put any bloody effort in and thinking "Why should I?"

Why didn't you just go to the hardware store and get a bolt yourself? Think of the time and energy you expended trying to get someone else to fix it. If you'd channeled that into just fixing it yourself...

People like you are part of the problem.

That's right. Don't expect the council to do their job. Expect me to do their job.
Don't expect the council to be efficient. Expect me to run around to do their work because they have no intention of doing it.
Don't expect the council to know what they're doing, let them call me a liar instead.

So it's not the inefficient, disorganised, lying council that's at fault. It's the council tax payer who listened to the advice they gave!

I dont. Most people you deal with at the council are fucking incompetent. They should be on minimum wage and most of the managers got rid off.

I was just thinking that that salary is not worth the hassle of the job.

I wouldn't want to be funding a system that dropped off bolts (and any other small. cheap object that you might be reasonably expected to sort yourself) to people. Or even a kind of council Argos where you went to collect them - can you honestly not see why you can't expect to go into the council offices and pick up 'your' bolt from them after a call @MarshaMelrose ? It would be massively uneconomical and a waste of public money. And I'm as left wing as they come.

Round my way, people seem to think it's the council's fault that people fly tip. They are constantly bleating about how the council ought to "catch" them. No suggestion as to how, of course.....

Hmm, because it is your bin. It would never have occurred to me to even ring the council about this in the first place. I would have just gone to b and q and asked for advice there.

This type of shortsighted bitterness is precisely why the country is in the mess it is.

Councils are failing because they have cut everything. You get what you pay for.

If you get rid of even more staff, who will do the work

This is what I meant about mission creep, people used to sort themselves and other people out in ad hoc ways that may not have been officially sanctioned but at some point, in a well meaning way, it became more "the Council's" job.

Councils used to catch them, before the Tories cut all the budgets. Environmental enforcement officers would investigate, fine and prosecute.

So my suggestion about 'how' would be fund councils to enforce environmental laws, as pre-2010. Flytipping has increased hugely now the Tories have removed the chance they will be caught.

Well, exactly.

Our council doesn't actually supply wheelie bin bolts or locks at all.

Also, going back to an earlier post, @MarshaMelrose the only way you'd know the waste service wasn't contracted out is to check directly with your council or on their website - because it is not unheard of for council workers to deliver bins and caddies even if the actual waste collection is contracted out.

No, I honestly can't see. Loads of people want new bolts. I noticed recently that my next door neighbours bin is held together with washing line. Why not keep bucket of bolts under the desk in the reception at the Town Hall and just hand them out as people enquire? I mean if they don't send them out and you can't collect them, how are you meant to get them? There are all sorts of different bins and bolts, how do I know what type of bolt to get?
According to the council they do send out bolts. That's their (unworking) system. Why do you find me at fault for following their system?
Or why don't they post the bolts through my letterbox when they empty the bin in the same way they post the green reycling bin stickers to authorise collection.
But basically, if they're not going to send them out, why tell you that they are? And by making me wait for the bolts instead of saying you need to buy xxx from yyyy, I ended up having to have delivered a new bin. How is making a man drive round delivering and collecting brand new bins more massively economical than getting me to collect a bolt from the town hall? Or a local library? Or another council space?

Kensington and Chelsea council is a perfect example of a poorly run council. At the time of Grenfell they had £274 million in reserves and made £55 million in rent and spent less than £40 million on council housing.

I can't feel sorry for any stick councils get when they are all sitting on substantial usable reserves and still asking for more money and wasting a lot of the money they do get.

Well, you see, my council does supply where bin bolts. And I know that because they said they'd set them to me

No. Because when I rang to enquire why my bin had not been exchanged within the two week period as they promised, and after she'd called me a liar and after she'd apologised for calling me a liar, and after she promised the bin within six weeks before I pointed out it was already seven weeks, then she told me she was going to contact the dept (not contracted company) that should have delivered it amd have me put as an emergency. Now maybe the guy who was working in the council van delivering the bins was employed by a separate company. (He wasn't.) But so what? The woman at the council was co ordinating the jobs and it's the councils responsibility to get the bins sorted. If they've chosen to contract a useless firm, it's their responsibility to sort them out.

Hmm, because it is your bin. It would never have occurred to me to even ring the council about this in the first place. I would have just gone to b and q and asked for advice there.

How would B&Q know what bolts I needed? How would they know what kind if bin I had. I have 4 bins and they are not all the same design.

And actually the bin is the property of the council, not mine as they have written to tell us with rules of what can be writem on the bin, but if they wanted ne to buy the bolts, why not just say it? Why say, yes, we'll send you the bolts and just not?

I wonder if its because people remember when the Icelandic banks crashed and the councils were found to have millions stashed away in them.

Why not keep bucket of bolts under the desk in the reception at the Town Hall and just hand them out as people enquire?

Because it's quicker, easier and cheaper to get to screw fix, they open more hours, you can choose what sort of bolt you want and there might be someone who needs reception time more?

There is really so much wrong with the massive sense of aggravation here and the attitude of it constantly being someone else's problem.

I am not excusing the poor customer service.

But I am agreeing with previous posters that it would have been far easier for you to buy your own bolt. The time you and they have spent on it must have covered the cost of the bolt several times over.

The most disappointing thing about all of this is actually that the council are doing it at all when there are far more pressing matters they have to deal with. The admin time of dealing with wheelie bin bolts would be far better spent on something else.

(If your waste is contracted out, the delivery of the bolt is somewhat outside the council's control. The council can request the bolt delivery. That request goes to the contractor who then has their own admin system to process the request through and they might also be checking whether the request is within their contract)

Also, as to your suggestion that they keep a bucket of bolts in a bucket under the desk in Reception at town Hall - most councils deal with many issues and queries, it would be bonkers if they kept the respective items for everything they dealt with under the desk.

Although it's unreasonable to expect councils to be responsible for everything , I don't think that's a view held by the majority of people.

You've looked at a few angry comments on Facebook, it's not necessarily representative of the general public. Most people are struggling with the cost of living crisis and angry and disillusioned with the government, and in turn local councils.

Although everyone should acknowledge that councils have decreasing budgets and difficult choices, that doesn't mean the public should shut up and put up with poorly run councils who make questionable spending decisions.

Our local council commissioned an artist to design a "centre piece" for the town. The 45ft moving sculpture filled with water and descended every 5 minutes releasing 6 tonnes of water into a basin below.

After a few years it was deemed too costly to maintain and run and essentially left broken and disintegrating before being dismantled.

Another artist was commissioned to design a sculpture to replace it celebrating a local poet. The whole exercise cost well over a million pounds.

I think it's fine for the public to disagree with not only how councils are run but the spending decisions they make.

Council tax has increased dramatically, people are struggling to pay it so I can totally understand the disappointment when the annual firework display for local families is cancelled at short notice.
It's almost the straw that broke the camel's back for some I expect.

R.e. binbolt gate I sympathise with the poster. It sounds simple to try and fix your own lid on when the bolt snaps but it's not. I repaired my own and the refuse collectors wouldn't empty it. I came home to a note attached to it instructing me to order a new bin at a cost of £45 unless I can provide proof that it had been stolen or damaged by a third party, in which case they would send out a new bin.

Borough councillor here. I try and be as helpful as possible to my constituents, including being active on Facebook as many people seem to think that if they moan to Facebook about their bins not getting collected, somehow the situation will magically resolve.

It drives me INSANE how many people say ‘the council’s crap, they should be doing this/that/the other’ while complaining bitterly about their council tax. I think my council spends a lot on unnecessary fripperies (I’m in opposition) but the actual civil service (so to speak) who actually control how it’s run do the most phenomenal job. Yes, councils are strapped for cash-although I do think they should be doing everything possible to maximize income while also receiving money from central government. But people have absolutely unrealistic expectations about what the council can do. It costs 3k to resurface a 10 meter stretch of pavement and people bitch and moan about their perfectly serviceable road. If the average keyboard warrior on social
media did what I do for a month they might actually gain some perspective on how well their borough is run.
Before you ask, I do it because the majority of the time it’s extraordinarily rewarding, like getting a single mum and her kid fleeing DV a permanent home. Public service can be an incredibly humbling (and completely exhausting!) thing to do.

But I am agreeing with previous posters that it would have been far easier for you to buy your own bolt. The time you and they have spent on it must have covered the cost of the bolt several times over.

It wasn't just time. It was the materials I had to use as well. So if I should gave bought the bolts, you tell me what type I should gave bought and where from. Bearing in mind bin designs and therefore bolts are different.

If your waste is contracted out, the delivery of the bolt is somewhat outside the council's control.

The binmen deliver all sorts from the council on their rounds. So if they're not employed directly by the council, they obviously have an agreement to deliver rubbish related objects.

The most disappointing thing about all of this is actually that the council are doing it at all when there are far more pressing matters they have to deal with. The admin time of dealing with wheelie bin bolts would be far better spent on something else.

Of course they have more pressing matters, ie, pondering the repair of a four foot stretch of road for a year and then planning the siting and building, then the re-siting and rebuilding (twice) of walls. It's busy, busy, busy in the town hall.

If they don't want to do bolts, why say, "we'll send them out"? Thats their choice, not mine. Why not just say, "we don't do bolts"? You can get them from shop xxx, quoting type yyy. But now I know that it's much easier for me (and much more expensive for the council) that if a bolt comes loose, just pull the other one out, chuck the lid and get a brand new bin. It'll save them all that nasty bolt admin too.

Funny that they say the same in my area , but then again they are second to bottom in the country for recycling according to the last reports. They also miss or don't empty bins most of the time even though they are once every two weeks.

The local tips also refuse to take alot of items including ceramic and porcelain (toilets sinks ect), they charge £40 extra for a garden rubbish bin and miss emptying it. They also messed up with my payment this year and then confiscated my bin after they messed up.

They have also previously confiscated green recycling bins, because they blamed people who did not recycle correctly. Well that helps doest it. They even took bothy neighbors recycling bins with no explanation and wanted paying to bring them back. They just binned everything in landfill instead.

They charge silly amounts for large items, and £5 per bag of refuse, but never turn up.

No wonder people top there a bloody joke.

Depends on the council. Mine use reusable giant recycling sacks for cardboard and plastic waste. If you need a new one for any reason at all, then you call into the council offices and get a new one at the reception desk.

They could also do with having a supply of replacement bolts too as the ones on the wheely bins and garden waste bins frequently break/go missing. The council just replace your whole bin if that happens. Both bins have different bolts so they’re obviously not just a standard item.

@MarshaMelrose Ultimately, you live within this council's area, so you're presumably paying the council tax bill. If you want to waste your local funds pulling out bin bolts, that's your call.

But if enough people in your area have attitudes similar to yours, then inevitably, it will have an impact on what services your council can deliver.

@MarshaMelrose

Surely as an adult you can work out what bolt you need? Take a picture of the broken one or the other one on the bin, go to hardware store and ask for one like the picture. In an ideal world yes, council would deal with it but in the grand scheme of things and everything else going on, this is not the hill I would chose to die on for the sake of "a few pennies" and a trip to the shops!