Filthy Clapham Common / come on Lambeth Post Reply

[muddyboots]

Has anyone noticed how filthy Clapham
Common is?
Given the second lock down, more people than ever are obviously using the common.
I’ve always avoided the little wooded areas but since Covid felt the need to let my children explore a bit more.
It’s absolutely filthy, rubbish, plastic containers, paper left after using it as toilet!
Condoms!! And last time a Syringe!
So now I’ve decided sadly I can’t let them go there and explore any more and it’s sad that locals can’t use an area because it’s allowed to be abused.

Lambeth are doing absolutely nothing to clean up the common. The pond is smelly with rubbish all over the bushes, the fence is broken in paces and jetties are half damaged.

tents with people using the Common as a camp!

The playground revamp is the first bit of investment I’ve seen in the 13 years I’ve lived here.

Sorry for rant, but does anyone know how to best get a council to respond or have the energy to organise a local clean up operation??
I personally think Wandsworth should be allowed to take it Over as this common surrounds so much is Wandsworth and Lambeth are doing a **** job !!

[Moonlightdawn]

Thank you for raising this issue. I’ve also noticed the general filth around the Common. The little wooden area is revolting.

I went there with the kids over the summer and it was exactly how you described it. Discarded Vaseline jars, dirty baby wipes, you name it.

I don’t know what the solution is. All quite depressing, really.

[sarah.johnson]

It doesn’t take too much time or commitment to organise a clean up operation. (I would help but am in SW6 and have a bit of experience as have done exactly this in my local park). You should be able to recruit people on the Nextdoor website which would have a more diverse demographic as I appreciate you probably have a young family. You can buy litterpickers on the internet (they also come in child sizes) and you need some sort of simple health and safety policy regarding what to do with ‘sharps’ ie syringes, glass etc. It is a very satisfying way to spend an hour or two a week and you get to meet some very interesting delightful people. If this is too much perhaps there is a plogging (picking up litter whilst jogging) group or similar in your area?

[astro]

I’d be up for helping with a clean up operation with my kids and I’m sure lots of people would be. Most streets in the area have WhatsApp groups so if we got onto some of those than through word of mouth it should take off.

The question is why the council cleaners don’t do more, and whether it’ll look just as bad the week after we clean it up!

[Rubydesktop]

Friends of Clapham Common campaign on these issues and organise clean ups - it is cheap to join and support them. Can’t post link but google and you will find their site.

[FrankJ]

I would recommend joining Friends of Clapham Common. They are super responsive via email, so you could email them with your views. They organise clean-ups but maybe more during the warmer weather.

[Nyumba]

Good idea - contact Friends of Clapham Common who are very proactive in trying to clean up the Common.  They will appreciate more people contacting the council and will advise who to contact at Lambeth Council.
The woods have been cleared of some of the undergrowth recently, so it would be good to galvanise some action on cleaning them up.

The Friends organise occasional litter picks in conjunction with other set ups - Trash Heroes, Keep Britain Tidy and others.  There was a person on Nextdoor who organised some litter picks on Sundays, but haven't see that for a while.

Currently there are over 60 members of FoCC who have volunteered to take on a small area each and litter pick - gloves and litter pickers provided by FoCC:    https://claphamcommon.net/community-litter-pick/   Great exercise!  The Common is definitely cleaner since this movement began early in lockdown, but it is an uphill battle.

It's worth people contacting Lambeth to complain as well:https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/forms/parks-enquiries
 

[Rwatts]

I just went for a walk in the wooded area on the Common and was shocked by the amount of unsanitary waste there - condoms etc. Thanks for the advice Nyumba, I've contacted Lambeth Council and FOCC.

I feel like litter picks do serve a purpose but prevention is the best solution - maybe more bins could help. This costs money though and we all know how strapped for cash councils are.

[muddyboots]

Just seen the responses to the post, I’m glad I’m not the only one.
When I moaned on here I also emailed Lambeth, friends of Clapham Common and even Wandsworth to moan about the mismanagement of the common by Lambeth.
I also called Lambeth in the summer about people using it as a camping site and mattresses in the bushes. My children were really scared to pass the tents worrying about who’s in there. I was more worried about where they go to the loo...
Lambeth didn’t seem to take any notice at all and said something about as long as their is “a dialogue” they leave them alone... how proactive!
Whilst I’d be happy to help with a clear up, the condoms and other vile stuff will just keep coming unless it’s addressed and for that we need the council and some kind of enforcement.
I would happily sing a petition for Wandsworth to take over the common too.
Lambeth are useless

[Ratski]

It’s too much of a cash cow for Lambeth to give up easily they pimp it out at every opportunity for music festivals, fun fairs, tv crews and chugger runs while spending very little to improve the experience for local residents.

So many benches have vanished to never be replaced, the water fountains that worked for 5 minutes and the paddling pool that was filled for the first time in 15 years and then closed off the next day are some of the highlights.

I think they expect us to just crawl around in the mud these days while we watch our kids play on the rusty swings. Once the furlough schemes ends I imagine it will look a bit like down town LA as the tent common grows in the Freedom Borough of Lambeth.

Ps. The huge swathe of grass cornered off looks worse now than when they started. Loosely seeded and little or anything has been done to improve the drainage. Will probably need redoing.

[mumofbabyandcrazydog]

I am really saddened by the number of people who buy a takeaway coffee and then throw away the coffee cup (not recycled if you throw in the bin) -   the number of bins overflowing with coffeecups -  in context of climate crisis please encourage everyone you know to bring your own re-usable cup when you get a coffee. 

[muddyboots]

Today I went for a walk and sadly had to tell my child to get away from a tree next to the gravel pitch as there was a used condom and wrapper next to it.
So now, the woods aren’t enough? They have to leave them in the open all over the place.
I saw more three in total just around the gravel pitch.
Last week I saw one next to a tree by the children’s enclosure.
Gross!

Why should anyone have to clean up after others like this....