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Bonnie · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject: Dirty Town Centre

Has anyone else ever walked past the Kebab shop and thought how disgusting the state of the pavement outside is??

Parts of Calne are looking really good at the moment with the new flower tubs etc, and although parts of the shopping area badly need modernising I honestly think one of the biggest eyesores is the filthy area outside of the kebab shop.

I think the owners should be made to clean up, as it is clearly only their customers making the mess. Shouldnt the town council be requesting them to do so?

Geddi · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:10 pm Post subject:

Bonnie: we all pay quite a high council tax in Calne, street cleaners are employed through this tax. I think the kebab shop pays business rate council tax as all other shops do. Why should the shop be singled out?

What I mean is, I like the idea of making a polluter pay (I recall Bopal city and Union Carbide's steadfast refusal to pay up even all these years later) but if I look into the area down by Castle walk, I see more plastic bottles and beer cans and such dropped down there. Shall we also be chasing the supermarket and the brewers and the off-licence? Personally, I think we should, as consumers, be demanding alternative wrappers (I request paper rather than horrid plastic trays for my chips) and as a nation be legislating against such dreadful wrappings as we have now. Bottled water! We have some of the best water in the world in Calne, yet the shops sells tens of thousands of tonnes of bottled water each year. Loads of the bottles end up blowing about, most of the rest end up in landfill at Compton Bassett.

Back to the Charcoal Grill kebab shop - it's a mess, as is the other place with benches by it, as are all places with benches where people of all ages sit and eat and drink and smoke. The idea is to have them cleaned regularly, with more focus from the employed or contracted cleaners, and replace or repair when they wear out. It has become a habit of local councils to remove street furniture, close toilets and all manner of dumb things, just to save a few quid. This is counter productive and causes the down spiralling which wrecked the inner cities in the 1980s. We all pay, including the shops, it's simply a matter of spending the money wisely.
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Democracy is dead.

Bonnie · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:57 pm Post subject:

I very much agree with your coments. I regularly laugh when I see people buying bottled water in huge quantities, and I have a real issue with packaging, cant we go back to the good old paper bag from your local shop?

My point is more regarding the ingrained grease in the pavement, which unless the council clear it up as they atempt to with rubbish it will simply stay there.

I recently went into one of the neighbouring shops, when I went in I passed the owner carrying a bucket of hot soapy water and a stiff brush to clean the pavement in front of their shop as someone had dropped a load of food outside their premises the night before, and rather than it creating an eyesore they took it upon them selves to clean it up.

Would people not prefer to see their tax money spent on worthwhile causes than on claning chip fat off the streets? After all it would only take a few minutes every now and then from the business owner to clean the area.

Geddi · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:05 pm Post subject:

You know Bonnie, you have a great point. When I have been in Greece, which I have spent about 6 months of my life doing, I noticed that vendors and shop keepers scrub the footway outside their shops daily, and even sprinkle water to cool the air down as people pass in the afternoons.

I know the chap who owns the Charcoal Grill. I may soon have a quiet chat with him. I am thinking that a jet washer man comes along to spray the chewing gum off sometimes. I resent paying for that as I don't chew gum and nor do any of my kids, but then I do things others don't!
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Democracy is dead.

Bonnie · Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:21 pm Post subject:

I am sure that the owner will benefit from having a more appealing premises. So well worth the effort.

Maybe have the pressure washer on stand bye to give the litter droppers a deterrant!!! laughing out loud

Local lass · Calnetalk Mayor Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 3101 Status:

The charcoal grill do the best kebabs in town.I dont think its up to the shop to get rid of the rubbish ,after all surley it is up to the individal who purchase the food in food in the first place.
The most comman litter through out the world is mac donalds.

kathy27 · Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:42 am Post subject:

The council do clean the pavement out side these shops.
But maybe if we had a police pressence in calne of a evening, people would think twice about dropping litter Roll eyes

But if you go back a few years you would have walked along the road and seen women outside of their homes washing down their pathways....................how many do you see now??

It comes down to respect of property and others, it seems to be a dying trend Cross

Chepfer · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:06 pm Post subject:

I can see both sides of this.

This is my view .....

I own my own home and pay full tax in all areas.

If i or someone i knew made a mess outside my house i would clean it up but also if a mess was made outside my neighbours house i would help them to clean it up too.

I have a great sense of respect for the place i live, i cut neighbours lawns and sweep the road in our cul de sac. This is not because i have to, it's because i want to live in a place that i and my neighbours can be proud of and feel good in, we help each other.

Sadly it seems that many people think because they pay there taxes, then it's up to one of the councils to clean and wipe there backsides for them.

Have you seen the new advert, with the woman being sick in the road, with the caption saying "My coucil cleans up after me", it sickens me to think that this is really what people think.

As for the kabab house, yes the council should clean up when in the area (we don't want to pay for a little council guy to sit around the corner, who , when litter is dropped, it's his job to clear up), yes the owner should clean up but more importantly yes the filthy, rude and ignorant person who droppped the litter in the first place clear up !!!!

Where has peoples pride gone, get up off our bums and lets make our town and country a place to be proud of.

Twitter · Aspiring Calnite Joined: 05 Jun 2008 Posts: 66 Status:

I love Dave's Kebabs! but you are right the litter bug (gers) are annoying!

But it all pales into insignificance compared to bin collection day round my 'hood....I realise it's a tough job (though easier now than when the dustbin men had to fling the bins over their shoulder etc!) but more litter seems to end up blowing around our houses than is actually collected I'm beginning to dread Thursdays!

& I won't offend any sensitive (and probably responsible) dog owners by harping on about canine turds again.....opps done it again!! sorry ...but would much rather put my foot in my mouth again than in that steaming pile of dog excrement I discovered mowing the front garden! Evil

Twit

Peter Dolman · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:43 am Post subject:

Yes the Kabab shop does pay business rates but none of it comes to Calne it goes strait to Westminster. Some of it filters down to the District council via the County Council.
The Town Council does try to degrease the footpath in front of this shop and has spent considerable time debating how shopowners can help benefit the town.

What is required though is a bit more thought from us the public, don't drop rubbish!