Lib Dems on
Reading Borough Council have cautiously welcomed the decision by the Labour
Cabinet to give further consideration to proposals put forward by the
cross-party Environment Scrutiny Review in December for tougher enforcement of
environmental crimes in the town.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Labour Executive on 16 February.
At a meeting of the Labour administration's ruling Executive Labour politicians agreed to:
- Review resources available for to the Council to carry out enforcement
- Establish a cross-service 'Environmental Enforcement Group' to co-ordinate and prioritise environmental enforcement action.
- Widen the use of Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990
Cllr Ricky Duveen, Chair of the
Environment Scrutiny Panel said:
"Members of the Environment Scrutiny Panel agreed a package of measures that, if adopted, would result in a step change in Reading Borough Council's enforcement activity against those individuals who desecrate our local environment"
"The hope of opposition parties now is that the Labour Cabinet has the courage to take the bold steps put forward by the Scrutiny Panel."
Environment spokesperson, Cllr Glenn Goodall added:
"The Labour run Council has a range of powers it can use against those committing environmental crimes in Reading which damage our local environment.
"The Lib Dems have campaigned for many years to get the Council to use these powers more widely when people don't play by the rules."
Cllr Gareth Epps, Parliamentary Campaigner for Reading East, said:
"The review of the Council's approach to dealing with these problems endorsed by Scrutiny is vital to ensure that appropriate resources are deployed by the Council to enable enforcement action to be taken."
"It's time for the Labour-run Council to stop talking tough and actually prosecute those who wreck our valuable local environment: existing powers the Council has means this is possible."
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