I was contacted earlier this week by a constituent frustrated by the fact a skip had been "parked" on a section of double-yellow line on Granby Gardens for two weeks.
As he pointed out to me in an email:
"if I'd parked my car in the same spot two weeks ago and left it there, the windscreen would now be festooned with parking tickets, & I'd be facing hefty fines...what's different about xx skip company? why are they exempt from the law?"
He's absolutely right.
The law says that skips should not be left on 'restricted' areas at any time.So why no enforcement action from RBC? On which subject, more later.
Residents in Granby Gardens have been having difficulty parking in their own street for a number of years due to barmy waiting restrictions - which I'm glad to say we recently managed to get the Council to change. Skips taking up spaces was the last straw.
I've been campaigning for better regulation of skips by Reading Borough Council for a couple of years - last year I got the Council to review it's policies regarding skip licences (in an effort to reduce nuisance to residents).
I got in touch with the Council yesterday to find out why two calls and one email from my constituent about the offending skip did not result in action.
The answer I got was depressingly familiar: officers had got the messages and had contacted the skip company asking them to remove it several times.
So why did nothing then happen?
It seems to me that the absence of regular enforcement action i.e. fines when skip licences are breached has left the Council looking toothless: companies don't feel the need to obey the law because they do not fear action will be taken by the Council.
I'm pleased to say that due to my intervention the skip company concerned has been told to move the skip and has been made to pay a second licence fee - which will have the affect of being an informal fine.
The powers to stop this type of nuisance are there, however, for the Council to take swift, effective action.
I mentioned this issue to my Lib Dem colleagues from other councils and I was made aware by Cllr Tim Prater of action by Kent County Council, which recently announced a clamp down on skip nuisance.
This is what Labour-run RBC needs to start doing, and fast.
It's not fair that residents should face fines if they park illegally, but skip companies do not.
Earlier this year, the Lib Dem members of the Environment Scrutiny Panel got officers to work towards more effective enforcement action, including the establishment of a cross-Council 'Environmental Enforcement Group'.
Last year the Redlands & University Neighbourhood Action Group backed my campaign for action. I'm aware the Neighbourhood Police team support a tougher line too.
I have written to officers concerned asking them to review their policies as regards skip regulation - it's no good threatening enforcement action if it is never actually taken.
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