AWE and wonder once again as my wheelie bin has been emptied all over the lane.

No not by yobs. No the poor refuse collector missed his wagon again.
As I look down the lane the bags he won't pick up all left again. The dogs will soon have them open and strewn all over the lane. The rats will soon follow to feast again.

Is this a third world country I hear you say. No, it's only Hendon in Sunderland.

Seriously, we who live in Hendon are fed up with the rubbish that is left every time the refuse collectors come round.

These workmen should be given three-piece suits with bowler hats instead of protective overalls and gloves.

Residents who have had their bins burned out or stolen put their rubbish out in sealed plastic bags that are not heavy. Unfortunately these workmen say they can't lift them in case of any sharp objects. Shame they can't be picked up by the tie strings.

So come on Sunderland Council get rid of your old rubbish and employ some people who will keep our streets clean as in years gone by.

And if you want to put a complaint in you will not speak to anyone face to face. Oh no. It's a call centre we have to speak to now and they won't return your call.
Concerned resident,
Hendon

Recycling game
ONCE again Sunderland Council has been caught "playing" the re-cycling game.

Last week's Kerb-It box was duly placed out with the normal wheelie bin for collection. On going to retrieve the emptied Kerb-It I was disheartened to see the contents of which had simply been dumped into the green wheelie bin.

I checked further bins and, you guessed, all were empty but wheelie bins contained the contents of all of them. Glass bottles did appear to have been collected.

It makes me annoyed to see such a waste after people had taken the time to save the newspapers etc. Two weeks of papers per household adds up to good weight of re-cycleable material.

Until the council get serious on re-cycling it is hard to expect the Sunderland residents to.

Lastly, when are the Kerb-it boxes going to accept plastic bottles and packaging? In general most people will accumulate more plastic than glass. At present it must be a very small minority who take them to a recycling centre.

Come on Sunderland Council, get your act together !
Riled Re-cycler Roker Resident

Making road safer
I READ with interest Mr Winlow's letter of June 4 in the Echo in which he expresses serious concerns about the heavy wagons using Seaham Road in Houghton.

The road is next to a residential area and particularly in the school holidays there is an attraction for the schoolchildren to cross this busy road to go to the allotments, where there are horses and other animals, also to play in the fields opposite.

To date there has been one serious accident involving a young boy and his friend and the concern is that worse may be to come.

Since my election last month I have had a better opportunity to look at the problem and its solution. The obvious solution is for the wagons not to use that road at all, but that would mean at least installing traffic lights at Stoneygate on the A690 to allow the wagons to join that road safely.

This is a longer term solution and Sunderland Council is now aware of this suggestion.

The shorter term solutions would be 30mph markings on Seaham Road, warning notices displayed at the quarry about the speeding and the unsheeted wagons and last, but not least, a proper speed camera on Seaham Road.

It is sad that getting points on some people's licences are more of a concern than killing someone.

I agree with Mr Winlow that the present excess speed sign is largely ineffective as it only slows down the (normally) careful motorists.
Mr Winlow, the residents of Seaham Road and the surrounding streets can be assured that your local Independent councillors will work towards rectifying this problem.

To help me to pass on your feelings to Sunderland Council I would like all concerned residents to write to me with their comments on this matter.
Coun Derrick Smith,
c/o Sunderland City Council,
PO Box 100,
Civic Centre,
Sunderland

Threat to schools
THE Government's decision to close schools which fail to achieve 30 per cent of GCSEs above grade C (including English and Mathematics), looks like little more than another empty threat.

Having been told by Ofsted that they are at least satisfactory, these schools are now being named and shamed on the basis of an arbitrary target which is of far less value than either an inspection or the fairer Contextual Value Added scores.

In fact, like so many Labour initiatives, this may well come to nothing as the schools naturally rise above the target thanks to the unrelenting grade inflation set against a static figure.

I recently visited one of the five schools in Sunderland on the hit list and was genuinely impressed at the progress being made in a challenging catchment area.

But headmasters and governors are so burdened by the weight of expectations from the Government and so constrained in their ability to improve the quality of teaching and learning (which is highlighted in many of the inspection reports), that they need freedom to reform their schools not more demands.
Councillor Robert Oliver,
Conservative Children's Services Spokesman,
City of Sunderland Council