Episode 2 Call the Council

From grappling with our daily grind...

Why have they suddenly decided to dump all this waste

in other people's bins?

To unearthing the extraordinary...

Wow, it's Wigan's gold mask.

..battling those blighting the streets...

It's not acceptable, really.

..bringing the community together...

-Hi.

-Hi.

..and being on hand in troubled times.

I've got kids. We can't even open the bedroom windows

because of the noise. It's affecting everything - sleep.

You know, just day-to-day living, really.

In this series we follow front-line staff

working for Wigan Council in Greater Manchester.

I speak to the waste.

I say to it, "Talk to me. How have you got here?"

Like council officers across the country,

they're keeping us free from harm...

You're looking at really serious injury or possibly death.

..stepping in to try and solve our problems...

I mean, it's constant.

You'll be told today that we will be serving notice.

..and responding to residents...

Much appreciate what you're doing, anyway.

..when they...

-What was the enquiry today?

-..Call The Council.

Coming up...

Council officers hit new heights to tame dangerous trees...

..come face-to-face with some feathered foes...

These things are called flying rats to pest control.

They poo as they fly.

..and step in when residents get revved-up about a rusty van.

The steering column's been hacked to pieces.

It's full of junk.

It's not in great nick.

Wigan lies 20 miles west of Manchester.

The borough is home to over 300,000 people.

The backbone of the community is the council.

Good afternoon, Wigan Council, Colin Evans.

Its aim is to support and improve the lives of everyone

that lives here.

Public Protection Officer Colin Evans has

worked for Wigan Council for 33 years

but shows no sign of tiring in his pursuit of wrongdoers.

'I'm quite persistent when I'm doing my job.

'There's very little will stop me.'

Keeps me fit, this job, that's for sure.

'I climb a wall, jump over.'

I get on my hands and knees and have a look under a gate

to see if I can see what's going on.

As long as I get there,

I don't care what means it is.

As long as it's legal, I will do it.

It gives me a buzz and I feel good knowing that I've

helped somebody out they're happy with what I've done.

Colin and his public protection partner Barry Pilkington

are well-versed in dealing with the humans

who might like their community,

but today's enemy is of the feathered variety - pigeons.

Residents have called the council

because one of the neighbours is feeding pigeons

and they're fed up with the proliferation of pigeon poo.

The main problem is they're roosting on

the gutters and window ledges, etc. There's foul blowing all over there.

They're blocking gutters, staining the windowsills,

staining the yards and they're having to clean the yards

before they can let the children out playing.

It's not very nice.

These things are called flying rats in pest control.

They poo as they fly.

They are classed as pests.

The council is entitled to legally dispose of those birds.

So we're going to observe the gentleman

hopefully feeding the birds tonight,

we'll go and have a word with him and see if we can put a stop to it.

Pigeons are classed as pests for good reasons.

They carry a number of potentially harmful diseases

including salmonella

and tuberculosis.

Added to this, the waste from pigeons

and their feed attracts other vermin like mice and rats.

But it's the mess from these pigeons' droppings that Barry's

most concerned about today.

These birds are used to being fed. They're no fools.

There's a free meal in for them.

They're probably coming from the town centre and local district

to come here and they can get as much food

within two or three minutes than they will get scavenging

for most of the day.

If you look over here, we have a lady there with her washing.

Pigeon fouling on the washing is something that we can't have.

Colin and Barry wait in the alley,

hoping to catch the feeder with grain in hand.

We're waiting now for the gentleman to come out

and to start feeding the birds.

Obviously, if we catch him in the act

then Colin can have a quiet word with him,

make him aware that his actions are actually affecting other people.

As you can see, the amount of birds there...

It's just out of control.

It's got to stop.

Coming up...

Colin hits the wall to catch a glimpse of the mystery bird feeder.

He's opened the back door, thrown the food out

and shut the door again.

From pests to partygoers -

local councils are charged with keeping our streets safe,

whether it's pigeons or people causing the problem.

Council Licensing Enforcement Officer Ian Whistlecroft

oversees the licensing of bars and nightclubs in Wigan.

He ensures they uphold the conditions placed on them,

making them safe places to have fun.

In the UK, night-focused businesses are the fifth biggest industry,

with a yearly turnover of £66 billion...

..providing jobs and bolstering the economy of towns

and cities across the country.

But this night-time economy can bring with it nuisance behaviour

that needs to be managed.

Today, Ian's heading for a secret location underneath the town hall.

Hi, it's Ian from licensing.

There's some important video footage he needs to take a look at.

This is the nerve centre of Wigan Council's CCTV operation,

run in partnership with the police.

Across the borough, high-powered cameras keep

a watchful eye on the streets, helping to prevent crime.

-TANNOY:

-You are being recorded by Wigan Council CCTV control.

Your behaviour is causing a disturbance.

Staff monitor the pictures 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The staff in here will tell you I live in here.

Most of the complaints I can box off or investigate quite easily

by just looking at the cameras because the town

has a really good system.

There are estimated to be six million CCTV cameras

operating nationwide.

And on average we are caught on camera 70 times a day.

Wigan Council has 550 cameras,

revealing any problems on the streets of the borough day or night.

Ian's come to the control room to take a look at a video recorded

outside a local nightclub on a recent bank holiday Monday.

It's quarter to nine on a Monday morning.

This council staff are cleaning from the night before

and you've got all these people then

who have just come out the club.

And a complaint's come in, basically,

because it seems to be a recurring feature now

that street cleaners are encountering problems

every time there's a bank holiday.

Last bank holiday morning, street cleaner Jim Angeleto was hindered

whilst doing his job, when threatened by rowdy revellers.

The bloke came over to me and tried opening the window.

Next minute he's at the side window.

He called me everything under the sun.

They lie down in front of you.

They put their feet out to pretend to have their shoes cleaned,

but it's a machine.

If they put it in too hard, they will have a hand or a leg cut-off.

It's not very nice for anybody, really.

I hope the council will sort it out.

Bank holidays tend to be worse.

On these days, the club applies to the council for an extended licence

that allows them to stay open an extra two hours

until eight in the morning.

But if Jim and his fellow street cleaners have problems

cleaning or are put in danger again,

Ian could recommend that the council withdraw this special licence.

We've got one character now...

Two lads down in front of the road sweeper,

thinking it's a jolly jape.

All it needs is the driver to get really fed up

and get out and confront that idiot

and the next thing, it could all just blow up.

It's just stupidity.

Now Ian's seen the evidence,

he'll be keeping a close eye on the club.

We'll have a look again at the next bank holiday and see

whether it's the same pattern.

If it is the same pattern,

then obviously something will have to be done with it

on a more official footing then.

It's not acceptable, really.

Coming up...

Ian hits the street to hear firsthand the problems

the council's cleaners face.

There's enough to get the management in and speak to them

and see what the crack is, really.

-Eight o'clock on a Monday morning.

-HE EXHALES

In towns and cities across the country,

trees provide a much-needed break from the urban environment.

But nature has a habit of overflowing and needing to be

trimmed back, which is why, like councils everywhere,

Wigan Council has a dedicated team to look after its green spaces.

Mark is the leader of the council's team of tree surgeons.

They keep Wigan's trees healthy by pruning and trimming

and chopping down diseased or dangerous trees.

Mark has worked for the council since he was a teenager.

I was 15 and I was walking through a local woodland on a Sunday afternoon

on my way to church, if you can believe it...

There were two guys up a huge tree.

I just looked at it... I stopped and watched them

taking this tree down and thought,

"I'd love to do that."

When I left school I got a job cutting the grass

and then a job became vacant on the tree gang and I applied for it.

As they say, the rest is history.

I've been enjoying it for the last 31 plus years.

Mark's working day is organised back at the council's HQ

by Jill Harrison.

Generally when you see council men pruning trees in Wigan,

that's me - I'm behind that.

Tree expert Jill decides whether a tree has got out of control

and whether she needs to send in Mark.

Residents have called the council about a number of nuisance

trees and Jill is on her way to investigate.

Trees are a very emotional subject.

People seem to either love them or hate them.

Whatever you do... Sometimes whatever you do,

it's not quite the right route.

It's all about compromise, really.

Wigan Council maintains over 100,000 trees,

covering an area of 187 square kilometres

in parks, woodland and council house gardens.

The council tries to conserve its stock of trees

and only those deemed dangerous,

diseased or dying

are considered for the chop.

Jill's meeting Theresa Phillips, who helps manage council

properties and has the details of the troublesome trees.

Hi, you all right, yeah?

-Which one are we looking at first?

-This one.

-Right.

First on Jill's list is a call from a resident

complaining about the work the council has done on a tree

in his garden. They've sprayed the tree to stop

new seedlings sprouting, but he's still not happy.

It's cost me over £500 to get this treated

and it's just dying every time through that thing.

Stephen is sick of his sycamore.

He believes its roots and seedlings are destroying his lawn

and he wants it chopping down.

I dug it all up once and dug all the roots out

because there was little trees growing here.

I've had... See one of them that's growing at the side now?

These here. All these here, these are all like little trees coming up.

-Yeah.

-I've cut all them down.

All you did last time... You came and sprayed it

-and it rained about five minutes after you did it.

-Right.

Now, look at it, it's just died all over again.

As it's council policy to only chop down diseased or dangerous

trees on council land, Jill can't authorise

Steven's tree to be felled.

But she does have a solution.

Quite often, obviously, we can't take a tree down

just because somebody wants it down.

We have to look into all the other possibilities.

If we do a bit of pruning, it would have less of a seedling problem.

So we'll see if you can prune it and see if that works for him.

Still to come...

A tree is leaning dangerously against a fence,

causing a resident concern for her child's safety.

I'm thinking, the tree and the fence is going to go.

You just never know, do you?

Especially when you've got a little one.

Across town, Colin Evans is dealing with a complaint against

a mystery resident who is feeding pigeons at the back of his home.

The pigeons are arriving en masse for a free supper

and Colin wants it to stop.

The main problem is, they're roosting on the gutters

and window ledges, etc, and there's foul going all over there.

It's just not very nice.

Colin and his colleague Barry are patiently

waiting in the hope of catching the phantom feeder red-handed.

But Colin thinks he's been rumbled.

It could well be he's seen me out the window

and he's keeping a low profile.

They decide enough is enough and make their move.

There is some food on the floor, there's not a lot.

Breadcrumbs, he's feeding.

Under their noses, the phantom feeder has sneaked into his yard

and scattered some bird feed.

Hello?

Yeah, he's opened the back door, thrown the food out

and he's shut the door again.

So I shall call round there and knock on his door and ask him.

Colin has seen enough.

It's time to confront the pigeon fancier.

-Hello, sir. Environmental health at Wigan Council.

-Sorry?

Environmental health at Wigan Council.

I'm Colin Evans and this is my colleague Barry Pilkington.

-Yes.

-We've come about you feeding the pigeons in the back yard.

-Oh, yes, yeah.

-You can't do that.

You're causing a lot of nuisance to all the neighbours.

The birds are fouling everywhere.

The bird man of Wigan is in fact octogenarian Neville Pomfret.

I understand that people are complaining...

It's a mess. Not everybody likes it.

You can't feed them in a built-up area like this.

Can I not finish off with the food that I've got?

-How much have you got?

-Well, I've got...

What day is it today?

Colin and Barry agree to give Neville a week's grace to finish

his supply of bird feed.

-Well, I'll come back in a week's time...

-Right.

..and we'll see what's happening.

-Right, I'm sorry to have caused a problem.

-Not a problem

Thanks very much for your time. Cheers, bye.

It's a result for Colin and Barry,

but a sad day for Neville.

We've got an elderly gentleman, we don't want to frighten him

but we've got to get our point across.

We want to be firm, we want to be assertive

but we don't want to cause any distress.

Neville has reluctantly agreed to stop feeding the birds,

but he's worried about his feathered friends.

There are times when I feel like I wish I hadn't started feeding them

because they've started to rely on me now, you know,

after all these years.

I put water out for them as well, of course.

Anyway, it's just the difference between people.

Some people treat them as vermin, so that's that.

You just have to watch they don't do anything on your head.

That's why I've got this cap on.

He, sort of, reluctantly agrees it's an issue.

Now, he says he's going to stop feeding them but he's asked...

He's still got some left, which he says is going to last him

until the end of the week - the food.

I've agreed that he can feed them for the rest of this week.

I am really upset about it, but what can I do?

I can't afford to let them take me to court to put

an ASBO on me, or something like that.

I might even go to jail, you know, if I keep...

If I keep doing it, so...

I've got enough on my mind,

with only just having just lost my wife as well. I just don't...

It's knocked all the fight out of me, really.

It's going to be hard for him.

I've a lot of sympathy, you know what I mean?

But ultimately I've got to think of the greater...

Of the rest of the residents round here.

Coming up...

Colin returns to Pigeon Alley to make sure the bird feeder

has conceded defeat.

I'm not letting it go.

I'm going to have a word with the chappy again.

Be it fly-tipped waste, dropped litter

or grubby graffiti, our local councils are charged

with keeping our communities free

from anything unsightly and antisocial.

When residents in Wigan complain about nuisance

in their neighbourhood, Pete Rutter investigates.

I'm a Safer Environment Officer,

which deals with predominantly antisocial behaviour.

My job comes with a large remit.

You're talking neighbour nuisance, noise enquiries,

abandoned vehicles, responsible dog ownership, that kind of thing.

I deal with anything that has cause, or is likely to cause,

harassment, alarm or distress.

Residents have called the council about an abandoned truck.

Pete's on the case.

We've had a report there's been an abandoned vehicle

over on Scot Lane.

It's been there for a number of weeks.

I'm sure there must be some paper trail of who owns the vehicle.

I'm going to go and take some photographs of it.

Possibly it's somebody in the area - it's usually the case.

But if I can identify them, I can write to them.

If I can't, I'll just have to put a notice on the vehicle...

A 15 day notice with intent to remove.

If it's not removed within that period...

You usually find that it'll just magically vanish

once the notice goes on.

The truck isn't hard to spot.

Judging by the weeds growing on it, it's been here a long time.

Pete speaks to the nearby garage to find out what they know.

-No idea whose this van is, do you, mate?

-...Seven or eight months.

Seven or eight months, has it?

That's eight months that the residents

have been faced with this eyesore.

The steering column's been hacked to pieces.

It's full of junk.

It's not in great nick.

So I'll just take some photos.

The photos could help identify the owner,

but if the truck's already been here for months, there's a good chance

it's just been dumped and left for somebody else to deal with.

Not only do abandoned vehicles look unsightly,

but they encourage vandalism and have the potential to catch fire.

Abandoning a vehicle is a criminal offence,

carrying a potential three-month prison sentence

and a £2,500 fine.

Six days later, Pete returns to the vehicle to see if it's been claimed.

It doesn't seem like anyone's attended to it

since we were last here.

Pete's checked with the police and DVLA,

but can't trace the owner.

So he sticks on a notice, giving whoever owns it 15 days to shift it.

If no-one comes forward in that time, Pete has the power to sell

the truck or send it to the scrapyard,

sealing its fate in the crusher.

That's secure there, now.

It's laminated, so it'll protect it from the weather.

I'll just take a photograph of it

and then I can attach it to the file.

Coming up - the abandoned truck mystery gets murkier.

It's moved about 6-8 feet further back.

Somebody's been in it because they've taken the notice

I put on the front and they've placed it inside.

So somebody's been out to it, read it and still done nothing about it.

As the council tax we pay goes towards the employment of over

two million council officers across the UK,

we all have an opinion on the job they do.

The council are mainly penpushers, in my view.

They don't keep in contact with the real world.

I think council workers do a really good job, the majority of the time.

If you phone up the council, you get nowhere.

"Press button, press button, press button, press button" -

will be the music.

All at the end of it, when you get to about press button number ten,

it cuts off.

Sometimes the work of council officers goes unnoticed.

It's seven o'clock in the morning on a bank holiday Monday.

Many of the borough's residents are enjoying a lie-in.

Licensing Enforcement Officer Ian Whistlecroft isn't so lucky.

He's back in the CCTV room,

monitoring the goings-on outside a town centre nightclub.

It's a fact-finding little exercise and evidence gathering

to see whether it is as bad as reported on the first bank holiday.

At the moment, it's all hunky-dory

because I think most people are still inside.

My colleagues from CCTV here tell me

that at half past six this morning they were queueing to get in.

-INTERVIEWER:

-What were you doing at half past six this morning?

I think I was in the land of Nod somewhere.

I certainly wasn't queueing up to get into a nightclub.

Last time the club had an extended licence,

Wigan street cleaners felt threatened by rowdy revellers.

A bloke came over to me and tried opening the window.

The next minute, he's at the side window and called me

everything under the sun.

It's not very nice for anybody, really.

Outside the nightclub, people are starting to leave

and Jim's road sweeper has just turned the corner into the street.

It doesn't take long for trouble to break out

as Ian spots a drunken reveller climbing on the back of Jim's wagon.

He's jumping on back of thing, there.

See what I mean?

Thankfully, the doorman reacted very quickly

to the idiot who jumped on his wagon.

He knocked him off.

Ian's seen enough.

Shall we have a bumble out?

It's time for him to hit the streets to find out more.

I'm going to have a little mooch about to see what's happening.

We'll see if them council workers are OK

and carry out some observations actually on the street.

He goes to talk to Jim - the street cleaner who reported the problem.

Hi, I'm Ian from licensing department at the local council.

We've just seen one idiot jump on the back here.

He knocked the door and said, "Give us a lift."

I said, "No." When I first met them when I went around the corner,

the bloke knocked on the window and goes,

"Have you got a fag?" I said, "No,"

and he just punched us through the window.

The other thing he was doing was handling the brushes.

If they're messing about on your machine and they're bladdered,

it's an accident waiting to happen, isn't it, really?

That's spinning round and I don't know how many revs that goes.

-It seemed like a good idea at the time.

-Yeah!

Nice meeting you. Cheers, pal.

It's been an eventful bank holiday morning.

Ian now has enough evidence to take matters further

with the owners of the club.

You've got people coming out with alcohol, bottles

and obviously we have council workers being prevented

from carrying out their jobs as well.

So there's enough to get the management in and speak to them

and see what the crack is, really.

-Eight o'clock on a Monday morning.

-HE EXHALES

A week later and Ian has now gathered the evidence

he needs to meet club owner Matt and take him to task.

-Hi, Matt.

-Hiya, you all right?

Yeah, fine, thank you.

We've had quite a few issues with your patrons leaving

the premise causing quite a few problems.

Council cleaners, who were on duty at that time,

have been getting hassle off punters coming out

and a couple of them have had threats made to them.

We've had one chap who was on the back of the machine

riding it like a rodeo bronco.

Ian takes Matt through the issues that the council have with

the club's extended licence.

Matt has some ideas about how to limit any potential problems.

Put into place some procedure in terms of

when the DJ finishes his slot, the music goes off,

we're asking punters to leave the premises, you know,

respectively, quietly.

We also get a member of staff, they issue lollipops

and a free bottle of water for when people are leaving,

so we feel that, kind of, will give them something to do

as they're leaving. You know, stick a lollipop in their mouth.

It keep them quiet.

Bit of a drink of water just to, obviously,

help them disperse a lot more quickly.

OK, Matt, thank you.

It's been a positive meeting, but Ian will keep an eye on the club.

-I'll leave you to crack on.

-Thank you very much.

-Cheers now.

He can ask for Matt's licence to be reviewed and possibly revoked

if he doesn't stay true to his word.

He's been very receptive, but let's just see if he delivers now.

It's not going to go away, it's going to be monitored

to see whether things do improve because if they don't,

then, unfortunately, it will go to the next stage.

They have a job to do and I can fully appreciate that.

We have a business to run.

It doesn't paint us in a good light.

It doesn't paint the night-time economy in a good light,

so, obviously, we need to address those concerns,

we need to address them quickly, we need to ensure that, obviously,

when people leave the premises, they do so in an orderly fashion.

It's all about public safety. We want people to go into these venues,

have a good time and get home safely.

So, they wake up the next day saying they've had a cracking night out.

That's why we're there, really.

We're not going to go away.

We'll keep on working and try our best to make it a safer place.

Coming up, will Ian's intervention make a difference

to street cleaner Jim's morning shift?

Colin Evans has been called to stop Neville Pomfrett -

the bird man of Wigan - from feeding nearly 100 pigeons

that roost on the roofs of the terraced houses,

causing mess and distress.

Colin has told Neville to finish his seed supply and then stop for good.

It's going to be hard for him, but, ultimately, I've got to

think of the rest of the residents round here.

Three weeks have passed

and Colin has returned to the alley to make sure that Neville,

the pigeon feeder, has stopped the birds' evening meals.

Colin's in for a pleasant surprise.

I'm just looking now and I can count five birds.

Quite chuffed with that.

That's a quicker result than what I was hoping to get,

I won't deny that.

I was expecting to come back again

and get another reduction before I got to this stage.

So, yeah, I'm well chuffed with that. Very happy.

I'm not letting it go.

I'm going to have a word with the chap again and just remind him

that I am still monitoring this and, obviously,

I don't want him to be feeding them.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Hello, sir, remember me?

Oh, I recognise you from last week.

Yeah, I'm just coming back now following upon

-that visit I made.

-Sure.

A lot less birds. Have you stopped feeding them now?

Sorry? Oh, yes, I've stopped feeding them now, yes, altogether.

I realise that you're just doing your job and...

So, I've never argued the point.

I know it has been a nuisance to people

and I wasn't surprised when they did complain.

When I die, I'm 86 now, so, I'm not going to be able

to feed them then, so...

I mean, it could happen any time.

So, that's why I've never made a fuss about it, you know.

I've got to finish some time and so it might as well be now.

-OK, thanks very much, sir.

-Bye.

It's a real coup for Colin to have the residents

and their washing lines free from the threat of aerial bombardment.

It's just a dream.

I wish every person was like that.

My life would be so stress-free.

It would be a dream.

And now Neville's feathered friends have flown the nest,

the council is offering him support.

Tree surgeon Mark Stazika is only let loose after Jill Harrison has

deemed a council owned tree to be either diseased or causing damage.

We can't take a tree down just because somebody wants it down.

We have to look into all the other possibilities.

But occasionally,

one of the 100,000 trees in Wigan poses a danger to human life.

Council tenant Jamie Salt is worried about a tree in her

neighbour's garden that is leaning and pushing against

the garden fence, making it perilous in windy conditions.

There's two trees there and one's leaning onto the other one,

which is leaning onto the fence and I've heard creaking

and I've looked around to see what it was and when it was really windy

last week, was it?

And it was those trees and they were swinging right back.

And then, you know, coming back with a bit of force on the fence.

And I'm thinking, "The tree and fence is going to go."

It's a big enough fence to cause damage as well.

I know it's got the support, but you just never know, do you?

Especially when you've got a little one.

I know we're not supposed to destroy trees for the environment,

but I think two little ones and this little one,

it won't really do much harm if we did that, really, would it?

Jill's visiting Jamie's neighbour's house

to look at the treacherous tree to see what steps can be taken.

So, is it this one?

Yeah, it's that one on the fence.

I'll just have a closer look.

I'll just have a closer look.

The neighbour's reporting, obviously, that it's

on the fence line, so it's basically causing damage

and that's what it is really.

It looks like somebody's taken a big piece off it here

and there's quite a bit of rot in it.

If you look here, this won't be joined properly,

so this could be quite a weak spot and, you know,

that stem could go that way.

It shouldn't really be a problem taking that one down.

There's some damage to it.

As it's an unhealthy specimen and it's posing a risk,

Jill is happy for the tree to be removed.

Still to come, the tree fellers of Wigan scale new heights.

He doesn't mind, he prefers being up there.

There's nothing he won't go up.

Street cleaner Jim Angeleto has called his council colleagues after

a number of troublesome mornings where he was hassled by

rowdy revellers spilling out of a nightclub at 8am.

It's not very nice.

We're doing a job, we're trying to keep it clean and tidy.

It's silly, really.

They've had a hell of a lot to drink

and they just jump out in front of you.

You know, you've got a machine here that can do a lot of damage.

They think it's quite funny to lie in front of you or

put their feet out so you can polish their shoes with the buffers.

It makes our job twice as hard.

Licensing enforcement officer Ian Whistlecroft

has investigated Jim's concerns.

He seen the evidence on CCTV and he's not happy.

Got one character now, two, lying down in front of the road sweeper...

thinking it's a jolly jape.

Stupidity.

Ian can request that their extended licence is reviewed.

This could mean it's revoked.

The club owner promised changes.

It's two weeks later.

Has Jim noticed a difference on the street?

The council have had a word with the nightclub owners.

They've seen what's going on.

The nightclub owners have seen the problems that we're having and that

and they're monitoring it.

We're relieved because we don't have anybody harassing us,

throwing things at us, giving us abuse, threatening us,

so it is...

It is good all round.

We can come up King Street and not worry about any hassle and that.

Keeping the streets of Wigan clean and tidy for

all the people of Wigan.

Council officer Pete Rutter is facing a battle with a large truck

that has been dumped and left to rot in a residential street for months.

It's not in great nick.

Pete gave the owner 15 days to claim the truck.

That time's elapsed and as the truck has no second-hand value,

Pete has the authority to have it towed away and scrapped.

It's got weeds and stuff growing at the back of it,

so it's been there a good while.

I'll have it taken away today.

And then it'll be destroyed.

Here they are, the cavalry.

Although nobody has claimed the truck,

Pete reckons somebody's been sniffing around.

From the last time I visited, it has moved.

It's moved about six, eight feet further back.

Somebody's been in it cos they've taken the notice I put on the front

and they've placed it inside.

So, somebody's been out to it, read it and still done nothing about it.

So...

..you know, you can only lead a horse to water as they say, I think.

They charge us 150 quid plus VAT and that's to take the vehicle away,

keep it impounded for seven days and then they'll destroy it.

Anybody that shows any interest in this vehicle could have obviously

scrapped it themselves, perhaps got some money for it instead.

You know, it's costing the council money to

get it off the streets and tidy the place up.

Job done.

Coming up, Pete bids the van goodbye

and gets to play with some big boy's toys.

My kids would love this.

They like destroying things as well.

Tree surgeon Mark Stazika has arrived at his next job.

His team are to chop down a treacherous tree in a garden.

Young mum Jamie Salt is worried about a tree

leaning and pushing against her fence

making it dangerous for her daughter to play outside.

When it was really windy, I've heard a creaking

and it was those trees and it was swinging right back.

The tree is in the garden of Jamie's neighbour Mercy

and it was Mercy who called the council.

I called the council in May.

When it's thunder and lightning,

I was frightened of it coming into the house.

You know, like, coming over.

I chatted with Jamie and I said, "Well, I'll phone them

"and see what happens", you know.

Mark's challenge is a tall sycamore that's more than double

the length of the garden.

This is the one we're taking down today.

The tree can't be felled in one chop as it could fall onto

the fence and house.

So, Mark's colleague Steve has to climb the tree

and make a start at the top.

He doesn't mind, he prefers being up there.

Never ceases to impress us.

There's nothing he won't go up.

He was here when I started.

Oh, it's...

35 years plus.

Tree surgeon Steve starts by cutting off the highest branches first.

Back on the ground, Mark is taking care of the waste.

The leaves and branches are chipped and will be recycled

and used as mulch on council flowerbeds.

With the top of the tree taken care of,

Mark is handed the chainsaw

to topple the remaining trunk, carefully avoiding the garden fence.

Just a little bit left of the centre,

but it's down with plenty room.

It's down now, so.

And safely.

It's a tree-mendous effort by Mark and Steve,

much to Mercy's relief.

I'm glad it's down.

Yeah, well, it's a bit more daylight.

It's a lot more daylight.

You're going to get sunbathing now!

I know!

-As long as you're happy, that's the main thing.

-I'm very happy.

I'm very happy.

-That's what we want to hear.

-Yep.

I'm just glad it's been done. It's out of the road now.

So, if we have a bad winter,

I don't need to be frightened of it coming into the house.

Antisocial behaviour officer Pete Rutter is making a special outing

to a local scrapyard.

He's come to say good riddance to an abandoned truck

that's been an eyesore blighting the streets of Wigan for months.

Pete's given any owners ample opportunities to claim the truck,

but it's been left to the council to fork out for its disposal.

It's a shame really because there's firms out there that will

pick the vehicle up from your location and take it away

and pay you a few quid for the privilege of doing that.

Unfortunately, at the taxpayer's expense, we have to remove it.

It is tantamount to fly-tip, so it's got to be removed off

the highway

and we're here today to see its final resting place.

I've been told I make be able to have a little go on the...

crushing machine, so I'm looking forward to that as well.

Before the concluding crash, the controls are handed to Pete.

Push that one up...

and pull the trigger and press the green one.

My kids would love this.

They like destroying things as well.

Amazing bit of kit, that.

After just a few seconds,

all that remains of the offending truck is a block of twisted metal.

But Pete's efforts haven't all been for nothing.

I've just been talking to one of the guys that works here

and he says that can be on the dock in the morning going overseas

to be recycled to make different bits and bobs,

so something good will come of it.

Yeah, case closed.

Wigan's streets are free from an offending eyesore

and maybe one day this former workhorse will be

given new life as something useful once again.