Eyesore Gardens
Local people backing Eyesore Gardens campaign
Local residents are giving a massive thumbs-up to Barking and Dagenham Council's Eyesore Garden's campaign to clear the Borough's unsightly front gardens.
Ninety per cent of households that the council have contacted in the last two months have co-operated with the Eyesore Gardens team to clean-up their front gardens.
In two months - 15.5 tonnes of garden rubbish has been removed.
2,261 households have been visited by the Eyesore Gardens team and 2,080 gardens have been cleared voluntarily.
Fourteen assisted clean-up have taken place with another 32 taking place in the first community clean-up in the Rylands Estate in Dagenham's River ward earlier this month.
One hundred and sixty-seven legal notices have been served on households who have refused to tidy their gardens and two prosecutions are pending.
Leader of the Council Councillor Liam Smith said:
"The public co-operation with the Eyesore Gardens campaign shows just how much pride local people have in their area.
"It's great that local residents share the Council's desire to make the Borough tidier and smarten up our communities.
"The fact that more than 15 tonnes of rubbish has been removed shows the scale of the clean-up, the action taken and the hard work the Eyesore Gardens team have done in only two months."
About the Eyesore Gardens campaign
Eyesore Gardens is a new campaign based around a team of specially trained officers who will be dedicated to taking action against untidy front gardens. It is a problem which is a real concern to the residents of the borough, many of whom have complained to the council about gardens which have a negative impact on the entire neighbourhood. The problem is most acute in properties which are owned by private landlords - a type of property which is unusually common in Barking and Dagenham.
The task force will start off in three wards before being rolled out across the whole borough. The initial wards, which have been chosen because of the high proportion of private landlords, are Village, River, and Alibon.
Eyesore Gardens can be contacted by calling the council on 020 8215 3010.
For more information and updates on the campaign, please visit the Eyesore Gardens website