Council Tax

I've got to say that our little road does get swept now and again. Fortunately the bit outside our house does get swept as I always park my car on our drive. But many neighbours with two cars (most of whom could get three cars up their drives) park the second one "two wheels up the kerb" so their bit doesn't get swept ever.

 

You need to move back to the east end Shiney.

Then you will have lamp posts, street cleaning, a police station and loads and loads of buses.

But I know where I'd rather be.

 

In this area it isn't a publicity stunt, a lot of local roads have hundred year old trees. In the autumn the pavements and gutters are full of leaves, which take weeks to clear, (trees are inconsiderate, they don't all shed their leaves at the same time) so it's a major job. It's also prudent to sweep the gutters as all sort of debris ends up in there ( and you might get a puncture) and it can lead to blocked drains.

I do keep the path and kerb outside our house clear of weeds, just by spraying them when they appear.

 

Oh my days! The roads...the ruddy pot holes!....don't get me started .... xx

 

There seems in this day and age very little community spirit. I am glad to hear it is still going strong where you live @shiney and @ARMANDII
Where I was brought up (north west London) we had big trees lining the road. Each Autumn the vast majority of the residents would do a stint of collecting leaves and would do the patches where very elderly people lived. Never a road sweeper came in sight. There was a grass verge that ran the length of the street. That was cut by all the residents. Why has everything changed so it's the council's job to keep our streets tidy? Yes they should look after the road surfaces and lighting but just menial tasks? Get some of the fat children out picking up leaves! This remark is no doubt non PC but it horrifies me to see both young girls and boys waddling down to the chippy from their school at lunch times. If they are so over weight and unfit as children god help them in later life.
Having enormous trees here where I live now, they do make a considerable mess in the autumn but the huge pleasure they give is well worth the chore of leaf picking up once a year and I have loads of the best growing medium, leaf mold.
A German friend of mine cannot understand how the British seem to take great pride in their houses and own garden if they have 1 but the minute they walk out of their property they seem to not give a damn, drop litter everywhere and expect somebody else to clear up their mess. Maybe a touch of "I'm alright Jack, you know what everybody else"?

 

@silu in my village we have a group of busy-bodies they are fabulous at putting in bedding plants/watering the village hanging baskets, picking up litter, clearing paths, cutting back hedges etc, they all do a wonderful job I'd just appreciate it if whilst going about their duty they would keep their noses out of my business! There's nothing this group of people like more than to gossip & sh*t stir & cause trouble!

 

Well the latest bit of gossip about me is the fact that I bought a new Henry vacuum cleaner for the local nursery....so I'm obviously pregnant! ......NO! I'm not as I told the idiot who said this! It was an act of kindness, there's still a few people around who are generous & kind!

 

The government have reduced the budgets they give to local authority councils massively.

So they allow the Councils to increase the council tax to bail themselves out.

It’s just a stealth tax nothing more. Nothing less.

 

It's that time again. I've just received the demand from the local authority, it's going up by 5.5%
The good news, they're not going to charge us £35 a year to empty the green bin. So that reduces the increase in my case to 2.9%
That's much less than the figure for which I'd budgeted.

 

Council tax up here by almost 4%. Not happy but councils have no choice
In future, council tax will be much worse as government are targeting zero subsidies