Chiswick Shop Fined for Sweeping Up Leaves

Traders say council is preventing them keeping the High Road clean

Paul sweeping up in front of the shop

Thinking he was being public spirited Paul from Cavalleros picked up a broom to sweep away leaves that had gathered on the pavement outside his father’s hair dressing salon and tattoo parlour on Chiswick High Road.

It was 11am on Thursday 17 October when he was approached by a representative of Hounslow Borough Council who, when he saw what Paul was doing issued him with a fixed penalty notice for littering.

Gaby Saliba, the owner of the business at 287 Chiswick High Road, said, “As there is a daily build of dead leaves which constantly accumulate in the passage of our doorway, the logical thing to do is to have the front of our shop clear of dead leaves preventing them blowing inside of the shop, my son Paul tried to explain this to the officers but it seemed to fall on deaf ears”.

When no explanation was forthcoming from Hounslow Council he took the matter up with local councillor Jo Biddolph.

She said, “I have taken up his case arguing robustly that it is an unfair fine. He was sweeping leaves from one council area to another - LBH is as responsible (through Hounslow Highways) for sweeping pavements as it is for sweeping away leaves and detritus from the road along the pavement edge. All Gaby was doing was shifting leaves from one council location to another - while keeping the pavement free of leaves, making it easier and safer for anyone walking along outside his shop and keeping the front of his premises clean and tidy. Making the right impression is important for all our businesses and especially so for one that is about grooming and looking one’s best.”

“Currently, residents and traders are talking loudly about the state of our unswept pavements and how the leaves pose a risk, especially but not only if it rains. They are also commenting on how unkempt pavements affect the way Chiswick looks and its appeal to residents, workers and visitors. Indeed, I was stopped very recently by one well-known resident asking me if I could ask traders to sweep away leaves from outside their shops. “

After ChiswickW4.com contacted the Council earlier this week, the officers who issued the fine turned up this Thursday afternoon at Cavalleros with their manger from the London Borough of Hounslow to offer an apology for issuing the fine and subsequently cancelling the fine.

Currently traders often have nowhere to dispose of leaves, and litter generally that they collect from outside their shops. The Council does not collect waste and recycling from them and does not offer a service to collect leaves that local businesses have cleared up. Therefore traders argue, if they clean the pavements outside their premises, they then become responsible for the cost of disposing the waste they have collected even though it has been picked up from areas the council are supposed to be keeping clean.

Cllr Biddolph added, “Traders have enough of a burden, and are struggling in this current tricky retail climate, to spend additional money subsidising the council by doing its work and paying for it.

“A policy rethink is needed and fast. There is leaf fall all year round though it is heaviest in autumn; it needs a year-round policy. Slipping on wet leaves is a real risk that needs to be avoided - and could be avoided. We need our pavements to be swept far more frequently than currently. If the council wants traders to do its job, it must make it easy and free for them to do so. “

The Chiswick Task Force, a group of local councillors and businesses is drawing up a retail manifesto for Chiswick and the need for the council to provide traders with a waste and recycling service is being included.

October 25, 2019