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Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Miami Herald
Story behind mysterious green road spots that showed up overnight
By Karen Johnson Mystery green spots that appeared on a road are a traffic calming measure by Britain's only Green Party-led city council. The dots on Greville Road in Bedminster in Bristol were painted overnight this week, leaving locals baffled. Various theories were rumored to be behind them and Bristol City Council initially said it was 'investigating'. But it has now been confirmed they were painted after a joint effort between community members and the Green-led council. Chair of the transport and connectivity committee, councillor Ed Plowden, said the dots were a way of improving "safety in the area". He said: "The newly added green markings are part of a community-led traffic calming scheme in partnership with the council, following requests from residents to reduce through-traffic and improve safety in the area. "The project is similar to several other creative traffic calming schemes in South Bristol and has also included the installation of planters. Creative road marking has been used for several years right across Bristol." The green dots are believed to be between 30cm to 1.2m in diameter Plowden further added that even though residents in the area had been consulted about the markings in 2023, "this part of the project needed to wait until the road was resurfaced, which took place as part of our citywide maintenance recently". Tracy Francis, who lives on the road and often cycles around the area, was concerned about what these dots meant for her as a cyclist. The road in question, according to Francis, was already "slippery" and she was scared that the addition of these circles would mean that her "bike tires will slide away", especially when the roads were wet. She told Bristol24/7: "I asked the people who installed them whether they knew what they were for. But they didn't. "I do know that the people who have moved into this area want to stop cars coming up and down here." The green dots can be spotted on various stretches of Greville Road Another resident also denied knowing anything about the intention behind these markings, but confirmed that it had caused a "stir" in the neighbourhood. The post Story behind mysterious green road spots that showed up overnight appeared first on Talker. Copyright Talker News. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How often should councils collect rubbish? Yahoo readers have their say
Yahoo UK's poll of the week lets you vote and indicate your strength of feeling on one of the week's hot topics. After the poll closes, we'll publish and analyse the results each Friday, giving readers the chance to see how polarising a topic has become and if their view chimes with other Yahoo UK readers. Bristol City Council could become the first local authority in England to collect black bin rubbish only once every four weeks. And Yahoo readers are almost universal in their view of this: it's not often enough. In our poll earlier this week, we asked how frequently councils should collect household waste, and only 1% of the 4,520 readers who voted said every four weeks. The most popular answer was once a week, chosen by 52%, followed by twice a week, chosen by 42%. The poll's Have Your Say feature attracted some passionate comments, with many readers focusing on potential public health issues, particularly in the summer. Kay W, from Greater Manchester, said: "Collecting the landfill less often will encourage rats and maggots especially in summer. This is a danger to public health and definitely should not happen!" And Carol A, from Barnet, said: "The collection of refuse should not be less than every two weeks otherwise you get insect infestations etc, and during the winter foxes etc. This affects all of us and could also spread disease as well as having a rather nasty smell during the hot summer months!" The Green Party-led council believes less frequent bin collections will encourage Bristolians to recycle more items, but Pete T, from Grantham, said: "I recycle absolutely everything possible so I don't buy the council's excuse it'll make people recycle more. A four-weekly black bin collection will cause fly tipping and overflowing bins which will cause havoc due to rats etc. It will cause anger too. I don't pay a huge council tax bill that increases every year to have my services cut. Where will this end?" Meanwhile, other readers raised concerns about how four-weekly black bin collections would impact larger households. Steven M, from London, said: "When you live in a household of four to five people including a baby, the household rubbish bin gets full very quickly. Even collecting every other week means a huge build-up of waste." And Jo D, from Southampton, said even fortnightly collections are a struggle: "There are three older teenagers and one adult living in my house, and often there are more as I am a foster carer. We are only allocated one household waste bin and one recycle bin. Twice-weekly means I have excess bin bags that get ripped by foxes rays and seagulls, causing a huge issue. The bin men won't collect excess bags so therefore when and IF they collect my bin, as it is frequently not emptied, the excess half fills my bin before I have even begun to use it for that week. It becomes a continuous circle of catch up which I never manage." A four-weekly black bin collection will cause fly tipping and overflowing bins which will cause havoc due to rats etcPete T However, there were also some readers who agreed with Bristol council's stance. Mark P, from Merseyside, said: "As a family of four, I sort the recycling and the general waste. I put my general waste wheely bin out maybe once every four weeks. I always wonder what people are throwing away because the majority of things we use are recycleable. I had no problem going from weekly to fortnightly collections and could easily cope with four-weekly collections." As a family of four, I sort the recycling and the general waste... I had no problem going from weekly to fortnightly collections and could easily cope with four-weekly P And Tom H, from Bristol, said: "Our household of two produces one very small bag of black bin waste about every two months. It's very easy once you've put basic systems in place. So four weeks?! Bring it on." Yahoo also asked readers how they would describe the frequency of bin collections in their area. Two-thirds of the 3,853 respondents said they are about right, while 31% said they are not frequent enough. Only 3% said they are too frequent. Bristol Council launched a consultation on Monday, saying it is "some way behind meeting the national target of achieving 65% recycling by 2035. Our local analysis suggests that up to half of what is currently being thrown by households into their black non-recyclable bin is material that can be recycled." It asks people if they would prefer moving to a three-week or four-week pattern for black bin collections, or if it should remain unchanged at every two weeks. It will run for six weeks, with the council hoping to make a decision in the spring. An online petition calling on the council to scrap the plans, started by the Bristol Labour Party, has fetched more than 7,500 signatures so far. Read more of Yahoo UK's Poll of the Week articles
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How often should councils collect rubbish? Have your say
Yahoo UK's poll of the week lets you vote and indicate your strength of feeling on one of the week's hot topics. After the poll closes, we'll publish and analyse the results each Friday, giving readers the chance to see how polarising a topic has become and if their view chimes with other Yahoo UK readers. Bristol could become the first city in England to only collect household black bin rubbish every four weeks. The Green Party-led council says too many people are putting waste that could be recycled into their black, non-recyclables only bins, and hopes to save more than £2m a year with the proposed change. The amount of waste Bristol City recycles has more than tripled in the past two decades, its council says, with about 45% of household waste collected as rubbish being recycled - putting it high on the league table compared to other cities. However, in more recent years, this rate has stalled, which the council is hoping to address by discouraging people from using their black bins incorrectly. "We are still someway behind meeting the national target of achieving 65% recycling by 2035," the council says in a consultation launched on Monday. "Our local analysis suggests that up to half of what is currently being thrown by households into their black non-recyclable bin is material that can be recycled." Residents and the council's political opponents have raised concerns that the move could result in more non-recyclable rubbish being fly-tipped, although the council says it has seen no evidence of that happening in areas that have switched to three-weekly collections. An online petition calling on the council to scrap the plans, started by the Bristol Labour Party, has fetched more than 4,000 signatures so far. It says missed bin collections are a problem that should be resolved first, and that the council also proposing a 15% rise in council tax – adding £245 to the bills of the average household, means "Bristolians shouldn't have to pay more and get less". Bristol City Council's consultation asks residents if they would prefer moving to a three-week or four-week pattern for black bin collections, or if it should remain unchanged at every two weeks. It will run for six weeks, after which, the local authority hopes to make a decision by spring. But what do you think? How often should councils be collecting household rubbish, and is it being collected often enough where you live? Let us know in the polls below. How often is your household waste bin collected? Is it frequent enough? Would you pay more council tax to ensure it was collected weekly? Tell us why you voted the way you did and we may feature your comment in our results article on Friday. Come back on Friday to read the results and analysis via the link below. Read more of Yahoo UK's Poll of the Week articles
