Redlands Liberal Democrats

A week is a long time in politics

The last week has been an exceptionally busy one for me. Constituents have been contacting us in their droves about issues as diverse as parking, rats, problem alleyways and streetcleaning.

I also had a number of Council meetings. I kicked off another year as Chair of the Housing, Health and Community Care Scrutiny Panel with a meeting with officers and members to plan our July meeting.

The plan is to have a strong housing focus with a number of topical items including an update on the impact of the credit crunch on housing in Reading and an update on work to tackle the number of empty homes in the borough.

On Friday I held a meeting with the new Area Director of Berkshire PCT, Bev Searle, and we discussed ways in which we could make the scrutiny of health issues more effective. I have so far lost the battle to create a dedicated health scrutiny panel (and to be fair resources being as they are it probably isn't feasible at the moment).

We agreed at the meeting that public health is an area where potentially councillors can bring useful insight and pressure to bear. In September HHCC Scrutiny Panel and the Education and Children's Services Scrutiny Panel will be revisiting children's health and the issues behind poor health (notably health inequality).

Bev was a breath of fresh air and I felt encouraged that we could make real progress on some of these issues this year.

I am keen to make scrutiny even more focussed this year, perhaps by reducing the number of issues the HHCC Panel investigates (I hesitate to say 'looks into' as my Chief Executive regularly reminds me, this is not the job of scrutiny!) Certainly we have come a considerable way from when I started and when all members were asked to do was simply 'note' reports. You can read my rant about this approach here.

On Wednesday I visited Dee Park and received an update on the long-awaited regeneration scheme.There is relief that the Homes and Communities Agency (formerly the Housing Corporation) has stumped up some cash to get the scheme off the ground. However, 'Phase 3' (penciled in for 2016) which contains many of the community benefits (notably the provision of an expanded primary school) is dependent on Council cash which makes this bit look much more uncertain.

Who knows what money will be left for local councils by 2016, or indeed who will be running the Council by then? Influentialfigures have already signalled that the future looks bleak for our public finances. This was borne out by a meeting I had with the Chief Executive recently in which he explained that SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives), led by former RBC Chief Exec Trish Haines, are conducting workshops with LAs to discuss future planning along the lines of

"What services will councils be able to provide in three years time...when there is basically no money?"

What struck me as I wandered around Dee Park was how much green space there was. Admittedly it is underused and probably poor quality. However, as a councillor for south and east Reading I was struck by the fact that here was more green space on Dee Park than much of Katesgrove and bits of Whitley put together! The size of Dee Park and the fact that land can be sold off for private housing to pay for other goodies is what makes the scheme viable. Regeneration is clearly needed, it's just such a shame that residents have had to wait so long to see progress.

Smaller scale regeneration which is so needed in places like Whitley Street Estate, Hexham Road, Orts Road and parts of South Reading are far harder to achieve. This is why the Council's new decent neighbourhoods fund (which we campigned for) is so needed.

Back to the ward and our inboxes and answerphones have been filling up with objections from residents to proposals to introduce yellow lines on Lydford Road. This follows the Council's annual consultation on revisions to parking restrictions.

The reaction is understandable: any reduction in available parking for residents was always likely to be met with frustration from residents as we told officers earlier this year. A number of residents have cited visitor parking and notably the impact of parking connected to the University as causing problems.

We will be calling on RBC officers to conduct a proper review of parking in the University area and continuing to heap pressure on the University to do more to reduce overspill parking. Other institutions have responsibilities to act too: the Hospital and Alexandra Road Mosque being two other examples.

A constituent from Alexandra Road wrote to me in the week to complain about the quality of street cleaning and general maintenance of the streetscene. He mused that the lack of local elections seemed to be the key factor...I couldn't possibly comment!

However, I agreed with him that the current state of our roads and pavements leaves a lot to be desired. As I've said before, one of my biggest bug bears is the fact that street cleaning is still not as good as it could be and I am saddened that I've been unable to change that yet despite a considerable amount of nagging - but I live in hope.

Rats are still causing a nuisance for residents with one constituent contacting me to say the number of rats she's seen in and around her garden has caused her to stop wanting to go outside. Glenn has done a lot of digging on this issue and I've asked him to see if he can get some action to reassure residents.

Glenn and I also had a very productive meeting with officers about tackling graffiti which I will post an update about shortly.

All in all a busy week, but I wouldn't swap this job for the world.

Kings Tavern update

Following the decision of the Council's licensing committee earlier this month to suspend the licence of the Kings Tavern on Kings Road, we have been contacted by constituents alarmed to see this venue continuing to trade as normal.

I received the following email from licensing officers which hopefully clarifies the position:

"Following the committee hearing, Committee Services circulate the draft minutes of the hearing, which are checked by panel members, legal and licensing.  When agreed, the minutes are published.  On their receipt, which in this case was approx 16.00 hours on 27/05/09, a letter, which in this case will hopefully go out today, is sent to the applicant confirming the result.   We allow 2 days for first class delivery after which the applicant has 21 days in which to lodge an appeal against the decision to the local Magistrates' Court.  If NO appeal is lodged within the 21 days, then the decision imposed at the licensing hearing is immediately implemented on day 22.  However, if AN APPEAL IS LODGED, then the decision imposed, (in this case a suspension), will not come into force until the appeal is heard.

You will appreciate therefore, it is a little difficult to be specific as to the exact start date of the suspension in this case.  However, in the meantime, it would be appreciated if your constituents will continue to keep accurate records of any noise or other incidents which may take place, as there is still a noise abatement order in place for the premises."

 

Servants of the People of Redlands

The Council has published the 'Acolaid' statistics for May 08 to Apr 09, which details individual items of casework raised by councillors in Reading either on behalf of constituents or about local issues in the ward from pot holes to parking:

Councillor	Party	Totals
BENSON, Daisy	Lib Dem	228
PAGE, Tony (Deputy Leader)	Labour	204
ORTON, Mike	Labour	148
EPPS, Gareth	Lib Dem	143
GOODALL, Glenn	Lib Dem	127
BAYES, Kirsten	Lib Dem	108
LOVELOCK, Jo (Leader)	Labour	94
STEELE, Tom	Conservative	87
RALPH, Mark	Conservative	85
BALLSDON, Isobel	Conservative	80
SWAINE, Warren	Lib Dem	77
STANWAY, Tom	Conservative	76
ENNIS, John	Labour	71
CHOWDHARY, Jamie	Conservative	62
KHAN, Gul	Labour	57
TICKNER, Bet	Labour	53
CUMPSTY, Andrew	Conservative	49
RYNN, Jenny	Conservative	46
DUVEEN, Ricky	Lib Dem	39
EDWARDS, Deborah	Labour	38
RUHEMANN, Pete	Labour	33
JONES, Tony	Ind	30
GITTINGS, Paul	Labour	29
WILLIS, Richard	Conservative	28
WARMAN, Emma	Conservative	27
HUSSAIN, Wazir	Conservative	22
BEARD, Peter	Lib Dem	19
LUCKETT, Dave	Conservative	19
TOWNEND, Mike	Conservative	18
MASKELL, Chris	Labour	17
WATSON, Debbie	Labour	17
SKEATS, Jeanette	Conservative	16
HARRIS, Tim	Conservative	14
AYUB, Mohammed	Labour	12
HARRIS, Chris	Lib Dem	11
PUGH, Fred	Conservative	11
HANLEY, Jim	Labour	10
HOSKIN, Graeme	Labour	10
MERRIOTT, Shirley	Labour	10
SINGLETON-WHITE, Mary	Labour	10
STAINTHORP, Richard	Labour	8
JANJUA, Azam	Conservative	7
HARTLEY, Jon	Labour	5
BYRNE, Terry	Conservative	4
JONES, Peter	Labour	3
STEVENS, David	Conservative	3

We are proud of our record of action on behalf of the residents of Redlands ward and I am very proud of my hard working colleagues Kirsten and Glenn: I could not ask to be part of a better team.

All of us fit our council duties around full time jobs. We get a lot of satisfaction from helping local residents and from campaigning to improve our area.

Congratulations in particular to Glenn for his effort over the past year. Glenn has only been a councillor for just over a year: what a great start.

Our Lib Dem colleagues next door in Katesgrove also work incredibly hard for their area. As my colleague Cllr Warren Swaine points out Lib Dems in Reading represent good value for money for the taxpayer.

Politicians in Westminster may be held in particularly low esteem at the moment by the public at large.

In Redlands we are working hard to represent local people and hopefully they think we do good job - either way we'll have to wait an see what the verdict of our electorate is next May.

We are certainly not complacent and will continue to work to represent local people to the best of our ability over the coming months.

Better housing for all: another win for the Lib Dem team in Reading

The picture above shows me out on the campaign trail recently with Sharon Bowles MEP and our Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Cllr Gareth Epps, discussing issues around the private rented sector .

I'm delighted to report that Council officers are recommending to the Labour administration in Reading that all 9 recommendations flowing from our recent scrutiny review into the private rented housing sector should be accepted.

The Executive will formally respond to our Review findings at a meeting of the Cabinet on Monday 1 June (at 6.30pm in the Civic Offices).

I see no reason why Labour councillors will not accept officers' recommendations.

You can download the report in full from the Council's website here (it's Item 15).

I launched the Scrutiny Review led jointly by the Housing, Health and Community Care and Environment Scrutiny Panels last year. Our deliberations included a public 'have your say' event in February.

You can read our original recommendations here.

Officers have responded as follows:

'In summary, it is the officers’ view that all but two of the recommendations should be accepted as written, as they are either already in progress, or are in line with the strategic direction of the Sustainable Communities Strategy and associated sub strategies, and do not have any significant operational or budgetary implications that are not addressed in the draft Housing Strategy.'

'A slight caveat is suggested in respect to the Landlord Accreditation Scheme re-launch in order to build in a period of review, and in respect to the Universities’ involvement in this scheme, it is noted that Cabinet are unable to commit resources on their behalf.'

I am particularly pleased that our Review findings were incorporated into the draft Housing Strategy for Reading 2009-2014. Private rented housing has a key role to play in terms of addressing growing housing need in Reading.

With the impact of the economic slow down and limited opportunities for delivering new housing in the town the private rented sector is more necessary now than ever.

However, as our Review highlighted, rented housing in Reading tends to be of a poorer quality and less environmentally efficient: both these areas need more concerted action from the Council.

The need to revive the Council's Landlord accreditation scheme was something that a student groups raised with us during the course of the review. Officers had this to say:

'a potential refresh and re-launch [of the landlord accreditation scheme] and Reading Borough Council has committed funding for an additional Private Sector Initiatives Officer who will prioritise this piece of work in 2009/10.'

And in response to our recommendations on student housing more generally:

'As detailed in the draft Housing Strategy, clear partnership is necessary with the two universities and landlords in the town in order to manage the issue of student accommodation appropriately. Issues such as joint landlord accreditation schemes, joint enforcement work for environmental and anti-social behaviour issues, and a joined up approach to distributing information to students living in the community will help to alleviate some of the negative impacts on local communities.

'A student accommodation action plan will be developed in partnership with the two universities to both improve the support and accommodation available to students and consider mitigating the impacts of student housing.'

The problem of lettings boards having a detrimental impact on the look and feel of some streets in parts of Reading was something residents raised with us during the review and an area we called for action. In response to this issue, officers have said the following:

'The Planning Section is currently considering various options for dealing with the
issue of the proliferation of letting boards across the Borough. Currently there is
a documented operational policy on planning enforcement priorities that was
prepared in consultation with the Planning Applications Committee. Enforcement
of the Advertisement Regulations in relation to lettings boards is considered a
lower category priority than other matters. The Scrutiny recommendation would
require some resources to be diverted from higher category priorities, diverging
143f rom the currently understood priorities. Cabinet may wish to ask the Head of
Planning and Building Control to consider how the Council could accommodate the
enforcement of the Advertisement Regulations in relation to letting boards in a
targeted and resource effective manner. The options could include, for example,
providing agents and local groups with information on the law relating to letting
boards, which would assist in agents themselves or local groups policing any
boards that should no longer be displayed under the regulations.'

Other highlights from the officers' report include:

- making information available to landlords more readily accessible and easier to understand

- creation of a leaflet entitled “Houses in Multiple Occupation: When Planning Permission is
and is not required”

- the creation of a cross-departmental officer group to enable more targeted environmental enforcement across the Borough

- revision to local planning policies to ensure parking issues as they relate to HMOs are considered

- continuing to work with residents to address waste management issues as they relate to flats, student housing and HMOs where there are particular challenges.

So what next? Our campaign does not end here: this is just the beginning.

Our first priority was to raise the profile of the private rented sector in Reading.

The second was to get the Labour-run Council to take action.

We will continue to campaign over the coming months to ensure that these issues stay on the agenda and that promises are fulflilled.

Flying visit

One of the slightly more unusual issues I am currently dealing with as part of my Council duties concerns pigeons on Hexham Road estate. A constituent wrote to me a couple of weeks ago as follows:

'There is a large and increasing flock of pigeons on the estate who make a lot of mess over the block and surrounding area and also a lot of high volume noise around the flats from early morning throughout the day.'

This problem has been raised with me by residents before and seems to be getting worse. I contacted officers who have said that one option for tackling this nuisance includes introducing a Hawk on to the estate in June  to scare the pigeons away! I was sceptical about this at first but officers assure me that this technique has been used successfully on the estate before. Obviously expert handlers will be involved and the Hawk will only make a short visit.

Officers will also be writing to all who live in the flat blocks requesting that they refrain from feeding the pigeons and also reminding residents to dispose of their rubbish appropriately as this also encourages the birds to feed.

Glenn Goodall and I met RBC housing officers last week to discuss this issue and more widely progress of a whole range of works designed to improve quality of life for residents on Hexham Road estate - something we have been actively campaigning for, for many years.

We were very excited by what we heard and will be blogging here about specific projects as they come on stream over the coming months. They include work to improve security in flat blocks, tackle parking issues and increase community involvement: issues that residents identified as priorities in the recent estate survey and that we have been highlighting with RBC as ward councillors for years.

It was good to hear that funding for this work will be taken from the new Decent Neighbourhoods Fund agreed in this year's Budget to improve the look and feel of Council estates in Reading.

As Lib Dem housing spokesperson I have been campaigning since 2006 for decent neighbourhoods, not just decent homes.

Before the local Lib Dem campaign,  Labour politicians' focus locally has historically been on meeting national "Decent Homes" targets set in Whitehall, failing to invest in the fabric of our estates.

Kings Tavern: licence suspended but will things improve?

Last night I spoke on behalf of local residents who have had to put up with months of disturbance caused by the Kings Tavern on Kings Road.

As I reported in March a review of the licence held by the Kings Tavern was triggered by the environmental protection section of the Council, following months of noise complaints by local residents living nearby.

I was extremely shocked by what I heard at the licensing committee hearing.

Over the past few months, in addition to complaints from residents about noise and anti-social behaviour, the management of the Kings Tavern failed a test purchasing visit by RBC Trading Standards and Thames Valley Police and were found selling alcohol to underage people.

The management have also been responsible for holding a late night party earlier this year that got so out of hand it resulted in additional Police officers having to be brought in from outside the Borough to tackle public order offences.

These serious lapses are wholly unacceptable in what is largely a residential area with large numbers of families, elderly people and families living nearby. The reports I received from residents were distressing and caused at least one couple to move out of the area.

This pub has been a problem venue for many months. Last summer I campaigned to support residents who did not want to see its licence extended. The application was withdrawn following the scale of local objection.

What I find particularly unsatisfactory about the way events unfolded at the Kings Tavern is that the management were repeatedly warned by both the Council and the Police to get control of the venue, tackle problems or face a licence review.

Despite these warnings the problems continued and we continued to receive complaints from increasingly exasperated local residents.

As a result of last night's licensing hearing the premise licence held by the DPS at the Kings Tavern has been suspended for 28 days to allow them to put in place new regulations and policies. A number of new conditions have also been attached designed to reduce noise breakout and other problems.

The new conditions are welcome, however, I personally would have liked to have seen either the Council or the pub company consider enforcing a change of management at this venue if possible.

I do not see why local residents should have to put up with further nuisance.

I hope that this decision will be a wake-up call to the management of the Kings Tavern.

If not, I will support residents in pressing for a revocation of the licence. For that to happen we will need evidence of nuisance caused.

I would urge any residents disturbed by noise or other problems relating to this venue in the future to report it to the authorities so that action can be taken :

• Reading Borough Council Licensing section 0118 939 0678

• Reading Borough Council Environmental Health (Noise) team: 0118 939 0937 (daytimes) 0118 939 0900 out of hours.
• Police: 0845 8 505 505 (24hr asb hotline) or 999.

UPDATE:

Today's Evening Post has the story.

It's that time of year again...

Away from the torrid world of Westminster politics which has been dominating the news agenda over the past week, I've spent some time dealing with the thorny issue of parking in the ward, although not for the first time it has to be said.

This is because the Council, in it's wisdom has just published it's proposed changes to waiting restrictions in the Borough.

 Barely a week goes by without me or one of my colleagues receiving an email or phone call from a resident about parking problems in their area.

In a densely populated ward like Redlands, parking is always going to be an issue.

Redlands is on the edge of the Town Centre, with a varied and highly mobile population placing particular demands on the local road network.

Throw in a popular schools, a successful University, and a major hospital and pressure on available parking in our area intensifies. As many people have observed to me, Redlands was not built for modern traffic and multi-car households.

Parking problems are not exclusive to our area: it was raised many times by residents from across Reading who took part in our Scrutiny Review into private rented housing which I Chaired earlier this year. Most were concerned at the impact the increase in houses of multi-occupation and flats is having on parking.

As local representatives we have been actively engaged in discussions over a considerable period of time with local residents, the Council, Reading University, the Royal Berks Hospital, Police and faith communities about how we can get a better balance between visitor and residents parking in the ward. We have tried encourage these different bodies to work more closely together to find solutions.

Some highlights below:

• In December I campaigned to get the University to do more to tackle overspill parking in local roads. Last September I highlighted similar problems associated with the RBH.

• Glenn held a very positive meeting a couple of months ago with local residents, Council officers, representatives from the Hospital and Reading University seeking a solution to longstanding parking problems on New Road.

• Kirsten has held meetings in recent weeks with residents, the Police, Council officers and representatives from Alexandra Road mosque to discuss a series of road safety and parking issues on Alexandra Road.

• I have been involved in a dialogue with residents and Council officers for several months about how to increase the availability of parking spaces for residents living on Hexham Road estate - a growing problem which the Council has failed to tackle for years.

These are just a few of the local parking issues we have been supporting residents on recently. In many cases finding a solution, if one exists, takes a considerable amount of time. With competiton for road space and more households owning more than one care It is very rare to be able to find a straightforward solution to parking problems.

That said, we will continue to work hard on residents' behalf to make sure the Council as the local highways authority has looked at all the options.

On Thursday, the Council unveiled it's latest round of proposed changes to waiting (parking)restrictions in the Borough, Due to lack of funds for highways works this process only takes place once a year which means that problems really can build up causing huge frustration for residentss.

Officers have investigated a range of parking problems across the Borough and proposed the following for Redlands:

• Granby Gardens - Convert the existing ‘No Waiting At Any Time’ restriction on the east side in front of 3-5 (consecutive) Marquis Place and 27-41 (odd) Granby Gardens to a ‘No Waiting Mon-Sat 8am-6.30pm’ restriction. This follows representations I made to RBC last year on behalf of residents who were having problems finding parking spaces and getting lots of penalty charge notices.
• Farringdon Court and Erleigh Road -Extend the existing ‘No Waiting At Any Time’ restriction on the north west side of Farringdon Court and on the south side of Erleigh Road at the junction of Farringdon Court. This is designed to improve visibility for road users and is something I raised with the Council on residents' behalf last year.
• Upper Redlands Road - Introduce a ‘No Waiting At Any Time’ restriction on the north side around its junctions with Avebury Square. Reduce the ‘No Waiting At Any Time’ restriction by 10 metres on both sides west of its junction with New Road. This is a second attempt by RBC officers to respond to local concerns after what officers proposed last year was roundly rejected by the majority of local residents. Glenn raised these concerns at a TMAP meeting last year.
• Eldon Square - Convert the existing ‘Shared Use 8am-8pm Permit Holders OR waiting limited to 2 hours no return within 2 hours, at other times Permit Holders only’ bays on the north side of the King George V Memorial Garden to a ‘Permit Holders Only’ restriction. This was in response to concerns about lack of parking for local residents.
• Lydford Road - Introduce a ‘No Waiting At Any Time’ restriction for the whole length of Lydford Road on both sides. This follows concerns expressed by some residents about access problems.
• Redlands Road and Morgan Road -  Convert the existing ‘No Waiting At Any Time’ restriction on the east side of Redlands Road opposite its junction with Morgan Road and on the west side around that junction to a ‘No Waiting At Any Time/No Loading or Unloading At Any Time’ restriction. This proposal following complaints from residents about dangerous parking at the junction.

The Council advertised these changes in this week's Reading Chronicle and on notices in the affected streets. We will also be writing to all residents affected with more details shortly.

The consultation period lasts until 29 May and residents wishing to send in comments should do so to Chris Brooks Head of Legal Services, Reading Borough Council, Civic Centre, RG1 7AE.  You can also email Mr Brooks: c.brooks@reading.gov.uk

We would like to encourage all local residents with concerns to send in comments to RBC to ensure that any issues with the proposals are ironed out, or if the proposed changes are not felt by residents to be appropriate they are not implemented and other ideas are explored.

We are not in the business of imposing unwanted schemes on residents: if plans do not make things better for local people they should not be given the go ahead.

Objections from residents will be reported to the Council’s Traffic Management Advisory Panel on  June 9 for consideration by councillors before the programme of proposed changes to waiting restrictions progresses.

Better late than never

Some good news to report: officers from Labour-run Reading Borough Council have confirmed to me today that RBC has joined the Campaign for Fair and Local Housing Finance.

This campaign is made up of a cross-party group of councils from across the country who's mission statement is as follows:

"We want Government to end the broken system of housing subsidy, which penalises the majority of councils, and allow us to spend the rent our tenants pay on improving their homes and communities, rather than paying it as an extra tax to the Treasury."

This group of councils, including Lib-Dem controlled Portsmouth is campaigning to end the tyranny of the hated "tenant tax", something the Lib Dems in Reading have been actively campaigning against for some time.

You may recall that back in January Labour and the Tories joined our local campaign and a motion was passed unanimously calling for action to reform housing finance, hence today's announcement.

In less positive news I read today is that the number of tenants in buy-to-let properties who are facing eviction is still rising.

What should be of particular concern to us in Reading is the fact that towns and cities with a high proportion of new-build flats (and private rented accomodation) are most at risk.

I raised this matter with RBC a few months ago but will continue to keep an eye on it to ensure local agencies are doing all they can to help tenants. After all someone has to: the other parties have been strangely quiet on this as on most local housing matters.

Bank Holiday Blues

 

Late afternoon I received a call from a constituent about a building which appears to have been built over the bank holiday weekend (!) as far as I'm aware without planning permission. The building has been erected on a small strip of land between Montague St and Fatherson Road. I have written to the Planning Enforcement department to ask them to invesigate it's legality urgently. This type of development is not acceptable in a Conservation area and if the builders have not got the required permissions they must take it down.

On my way back I took photos of some very unsightly graffiti in and around Eldon Terrace (including Town Place and Montague St). Glenn and I reported it to RBC weeks ago but nothing has been done. I am concerned that this is because of the Labour-run Council's policy not to remove graffiti for free when a tag is larger than one square metre. The location of this graffiti in a Conservation Area and the fact is highly visible from the public highway means that the impact it has on the neighbourhood is doubly bad, in my view. I have written to officers to see what can be done.

 

 

 

UPDATE: Reading Borough Council officers have confirmed that the aforementioned property does NOT have planning permission. Officers visited the site today and I will post an update on the situation here as soon as I can.

UPDATE: The Evening Post takes up the story.

Tagging: Lib Dem action vs. Labour inaction

Our campaign to tackle tagging in Reading continues to gain momentum.

Officers met this week following pressure from the Lib Dems to discuss how Thames Valley Police and Reading Borough Council can work together more effectively to tackle this problem and agreed the following:

• Officers confirmed that there is a definite increase in graffiti across the whole borough, with a number of areas, being affected more that others. To ensure that we deal with the issues more effectively, officers agreed the need to ensure that relevant agencies have a clear idea of which areas are being affected and the tags which are being used so that we can identify perpetrators more effectively and where it is difficult to do so, deploy resources which will help with the identification process.
• Officers agreed there is a need to ensure that the agencies and the public are given the same messages in terms of where to report graffiti to. The most logical reporting point is the
  graffiti line within the local authority as all reports a logged onto a database
  and can be mapped. Tags that are held by Thames Valley Police can be aligned to this and mapped so that officers know which tags are prominent in each areas therefore there is a need
  to ensure that TVP officers have access to the local authority reports of graffiti so
  that she is able to focus investigations more effectively. 
• RBC officers will share the monthly statistics with TVP officers to ensure that within the police station officers can ensure that neighbourhood teams are updated regularly with regards to
  these issues and can work together to identify individuals. This will help to ensure that
  officers working within the police and local authority are reporting graffiti to
  the right department and remind them what information is required when doing so.
  Additional work will be carried out to ensure the correct message is given out to the
  public.
  
• A number of individuals have been arrested for criminal damage offences in the last few weeks and officers will ensure that where required, TVP officers will link in with the RBC Streetcare team to ensure that any information required is obtained and where ASBOs may be considered, statements are obtained etc. 
• Going forward TVP officers will be focussing on 'hotspot areas dictated  by reports that have been received. While the problem is borough-wide, Redlands, Katesgrove and parts of south and east Reading have been particularly badly affected.
• Officers will also be looking at more diversionary activities such as graffiti walls, linking in with the Youth Service. 
   

I am delighted to see Council officers and the Police stepping up to this challenge. The only way this complex problem can be tackled is by a multi-agency approach. You might think this was self-evident, but in my experience as a councillor it doesn't happen automatically and needs effort (from both sides) to make it work.

What saddens me is that is took the Lib Dems, rather than the Labour politicians (who are supposed to be running the Council), to get action taken for Reading residents.

And Labour's so-called 'Big Clean Up Campaign' went the way of the dinosaurs once the local elections were safely out the way.

Cllr Bet Tickner, Lead Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods has been invisible on this issue, breaking her silence only to attack the Lib Dems from the relative safety of the letters page of the Evening Post earlier this week.

But attacking the Lib Dems for what exactly? for drawing attention to the graffiti outbreak. 

Cllr Tickner clearly found this highly embarassing. Perhaps she's simply been too busy to deal with the problem like other areas of her portfolio.

This follows her Labour colleague Cllr Gittings getting into a muddle last week over the Council's graffiti-removal policy.

We're happy to leave Labour politicians to snipe from the sidelines. It seems to be all they do these days. Meanwhile Glenn and I will be meeting officers from RBC and TVP shortly to keep the pressure on for real action to clean up our neighbourhoods.

It's what local residents deserve.

All in all I think local people can tell the difference between the local Lib Dems and Reading Labour when it comes to tackling crime.