NEIGHBOURS and residents of Flora Place, Palmerston, have spent the last five months fighting to have their street cleaned up of a dirty mattress and household rubbish.

Finally, on January 24 they got their wish, but one resident, Glenn, said it wasn’t not good enough.

“It was a safety and public health concern,” he said.

“It’s been such a nice street, we’ve tried to look after it from a community view, we take pride in our street. Taking five months to clean it is just not good enough.

“The whole experience was really disappointing, and quite deflating.”

Between his neighbours and himself, Glenn said there were countless Fix My Street applications submitted over the five-month period.

“It felt like we were out of options, those responsible had plenty of time, and it reached a point where we didn’t know what else to do,” he said.

The pile of rubbish consisted of mattresses, chairs, a couch, and old boxes.

“It was pretty dirty and it just kept growing by the day,” said Glenn.

“It was a major health concern and a hazard, a few times rubbish spilled out on to the road and we had to kick it back on to the nature strip. We all saw mice and a rat hanging around, so it was pretty bad.

“There are also a lot of people who walk their pets in our street, and there’s a lot of people pushing strollers or prams, it definitely wasn’t family-friendly having to navigate around it with young children and pets.”

Glenn believed Liberal Health and Wellbeing spokesperson Leanne Castley, along with 2CC breakfast host Stephen Cenatiempo, were the reasons the ACT government finally took action, and said Flora Place is “really, truly grateful”.

Castley told “CityNews” that on August 15 she had written to City Services Mnister Chris Steel following an email from a constituent about illegal dumping in Palmerston.

She said she received a response from the minister on October 10 that said: “The attending officer has identified illegal dumping offences and is currently investigating the person/s responsible for the dumping.”

Castley said she then sent a follow-up letter after hearing that the rubbish had still not been removed, asking the minister how long a case was investigated before rubbish was removed, and why the government waited five months since they identified the rubbish to remove it.

“The minister cannot claim that the government is ‘actively targeting’ illegal dumping when it has sat on its hand for five months investigating the issue rather than cleaning it up for residents,” she said.

Glenn said residents of Flora Place were worried it would happen all over again, with perhaps an even larger mountain of rubbish and furniture left behind.

“The ACT government could organise a regular clean up of trouble areas, hire a truck and spend a couple of days going around and grabbing all the rubbish,” he said.

“I just think between the potholes, all the long grass and now this, if they can’t pick up a bit of rubbish and get the street cleaned up within a reasonable time, then what are they doing?”

The minister’s office responded to enquiries by “CityNews” saying: “Due to human error, the initial request sent through in September was not received by the relevant crews until a follow up Fix My Street request was lodged on January 16.

“To address the recurrent illegal dumping on this street, a letterbox drop was undertaken in the area. The letter sought public assistance to help identify anyone responsible for illegally dumping in the area and provided advice on littering offences and how to access bulky waste collections.”

The City Services spokesperson said, on this occasion, no offenders were identified or information received and that the area would continue to be monitored.

“Identifying illegal dumping offenders is often difficult and any evidence or information from residents can greatly assist authorised officers,” the spokesperson said.

“City Services reminds the community that a free bulky waste collection service is available for residents. Residents can get one free annual collection of bulky goods (up to two cubic square metres).” 

More information was available on the City Services website.