Green member Rob Callender demands Newham Council devote more staff time and equipment to cleaning the pavements and roads, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

West Silvertown DLR Station, in North Woolwich Road, and (inset) Green councillor Rob Callender

People living in Silvertown are inhaling “dirty dust” that covers their homes and streets, a Newham councillor has warned.

Green councillor Rob Callender, who represents Royal Victoria ward, asked council leaders for more street cleaning, as well as action to stop the cause of the dust.

Cllr Callender said the streets around West Silvertown DLR Station are “caked in dust and debris” and that “sediment sits inches thick around the kerbs of traffic islands”.

Senior Labour councillor Susan Masters, responsible for roads, said the council had received “several inquiries” from residents about the dust. She said it was “one of the more worrying questions” she’d received.

Cllr Callender raised the issue at a full council meeting on Monday (5th), where he said the amount of dust was more than council street cleaners had been able to deal with.

He asked Cllr Masters if the council could devote more staff time and equipment to cleaning the pavements and roads.

Cllr Callender said: “The streets around West Silvertown DLR are caked in dust and debris.

“The road markings are obscured, street furniture covered, the recently installed Royal Docks Corridor cycle paths and pavements full of debris, sediment sits inches thick around the kerbs of the traffic islands – and worse, local residents’ cars and homes are also covered in dirty dust, which they are breathing in.”

He said council cleaners were “doing their best to try and clear away the dust but do not have the resources available to make a meaningful difference”.

Speaking to the meeting, Cllr Callender also asked if the council could put “pressure” on the Environment Agency to take enforcement action against any nearby businesses that might be the source of the dust.

And he asked the council’s planning enforcement team to ensure those businesses were following the obligations in their planning permissions.

Cllr Masters thanked Cllr Callender for raising the issue, and said it was “one of the more worrying questions that I’ve received”.

She said the area surrounded industrial sites such as RMS Skip Hire, but that several homes and “luxury apartments” had also been built there in recent years.

However, she said that council staff had made “several site visits” to RMS Skip hire and confirmed that “dust suppression measures are in operation”.

Cllr Masters said the council currently sends a large mechanical sweeper down Silvertown Way every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

She said its street cleaning team would clean traffic islands there on Sundays as overtime, but that it couldn’t increase cycle lane and pavement sweeping.

Cllr Masters said that increasing street cleaning in Silvertown could mean reducing the service elsewhere in the borough.

However, she told Cllr Callender: “I’m very happy to come and visit and see this for myself, with officers to see if we can come to some sort of solution.”

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