Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Talk from the Tip

I must admit I have been confused by the move from Basingrad/Hampshire to Dartmouth.

Collections (not easy due to roads, seagulls and tourists with bags of dog poo)
Black bags of mixed kitchen waste
Basingrad - Weekly in bin
Dartmouth - 2 weeks, in Seagull sack (no seal on the bag so an interesting odour as it must be indoors if you don't have a garden)

Separated Green Waste (plastic, paper etc)
Basingrad - Every two weeks in large green bin and smaller trough
Dartmouth - Every week in two smaller plastic troughs, little capacity if you do Amazon.

If I have excess (or smelly) kitchen waste I phone the council and have a allowance of 6 black bags _per year_ which I can then take to the dump myself. I can take as much recycling/garden and other waste but not kitchen waste. Collected every two weeks. Which is smelly. Hmmmmm. I wonder if that happens to align to a nominal re-cycling target of some sort or a real goal for the council or contractor?

Dartmouth has a permanent population of 5-6000 up to 10-12,000 when AirBnB kicks off in July. Despite this there is one bottle recycling location at the park and ride and little else anywhere for any overflow. So I have to drive for 25 minutes to Torcross tip. Jolly eco at a planet level eh?

If they had weekly kitchen collections the limited number of sacks and additional trouble of making calls might be more acceptable. I will be raising it with a local politician when I can find one. We had a farce last week. The local election took place and the local candidate who had applied won it. He then announced that he would not be taking up the appointment as he did not feel it was right. You can't make this stuff up.

Clipped from Fishbook as it is a private group for residents.
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Dartmouth News & support Sharing UK (Residents only grp)
Adrian Booker

I have to tell you that I refused to take my seat on Dartmouth Town Council. I have no doubt that the fault will visibly lie on my side, and I will be discredited.
I hadn’t at all expected to fight an election, and I’ve never done it before. All the canvassing I was doing was, well, not exactly a sham, but it was an act. It’s not me at all. I was being subjected to abuse from day one of that campaign.
It won me the election easily, although of course I was the only Dartmouth resident who had the courage to stand. When I say courage, I mean it. I’m a shy sort of person, socially awkward, can’t wear suits, hate mobile phones. None of these disadvantages are filtered out in the selection process.
When I went to the Guildhall to enrol, I had several proposals. I wanted the council to apply for permit parking outside the Guildhall to make it easier for councillors to park. I wanted improvements to the prison-like hatchway in the foyer which is the interface between the council and the people. It immediately became obvious that the council would consider neither of these proposals.
What really destroyed me was that I was told I could only enter the office by telephone appointment. I never wanted to be a councillor really. This was just a way to get a bit closer to the administration, so I could do something about the allotments. Although far from being my only interest, the allotments are a big issue for me.
Therefore, my political career lasted about two minutes.
In my defence, I was the only Dartmouth resident who had the courage to stand in either ward. The campaign cost me £180 out of my own money, and I have been severely traumatised from day one. It’s been a bad month.
There will be another election, which will cost the town £2000. That’s all the council was interested in. They weren’t at all interested that it cost me £180, and that I was traumatised.
In the light of this tale, I would advise caution to any other would-be candidates in the next election.
I never, ever, want any contact with anything like this again! Ever!
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I am lost for words. I am not standing, I have disappointed enough people in my life (parents, various girlfriends, bosses etc) so don't need that in my life!