I'm grateful to my ward colleague Glenn Goodall (who is also Lib Dem environment spokesperson on Reading Borough Council) for drawing people's attention to tonight's meeting of the Environment Scrutiny Panel.
On the agenda is an obscure-sounding, but, we would argue, vitally important report going to Environment Scrutiny on the Council's environmental enforcement activity.
We have campaigned for years in Redlands and across Reading as a whole for more resources and more effective action by the Labour-controlled Council to be focussed on taking action against those who wilfully dump rubbish, abuse planning rules and generally make our streets look a mess.
And in the March Budget we won extra cash to go into making this campaign a reality on our streets.
The Lib Dems got this issue on the agenda and we have succeeded in keeping it there.
Why? Because this is important to us and because it is very important to our constituents.
People who pay taxes expect their streets to be clean and free of rubbish and they have a right to expect the Council to act against those who denigrate our area when it has the powers to do so.
And it's not only local residents who have been critical of the Council's performance on keeping our streets clean.
The independent Comprehensive Area Assessment of Reading published online via the Oneplace website today stated:
"The Council is putting extra resources into street cleaning and as a result
standards are improving. Despite this 38 per cent of residents think that litter
is a problem and 11 per cent are concerned about abandoned or burnt out
cars. Both these figures are higher than the regional averages of 32 per
cent and 7 per cent.
This is the second time this year Labour-run RBC has been criticised by inspectors on waste issues.
In the ward we have led a high-profile campaign to get the Council and Reading University to work together to tackle problems linked with landlords and'end of term' waste.
This is what happens in Lib-Dem controlled Cardiff.
We have also campaigned for better street-cleaning and action to reduce the amount of litter.
A more joined-up approach to reducing environmental crimes and improving the quality of our street environment in Reading was also one of the key recommendations to come out of the successful joint scrutiny review into private rented housing that I led at the start of the year.
But our campaign doesn't stop there.
Having got this issue on the political agenda in Reading, the question is are we seeing the progress that residents want and fast enough?
Tonight's report demonstrates what has been achieved thanks to Lib Dem pressure but also how much further the Labour-administration needs to go in Reading until the Council is really on top of these issues.
Some headlines:
Planning enforcement (2008/9)
- 470 alleged breaches of planning rules
- 81 unathorised HMO conversions (but only 8 notices served by RBC)
Streetcare
- Number of warnings to occupiers/landowners about
accumulations of litter and refuse under EPA S92 - 7 - Number of formal Notices to occupiers/landowners about
accumulations of litter and refuse - 1 - Number of warnings to occupiers about their management of
household waste under EPA S46- 689 - Number of formal Notices to occupiers about their management
of household waste - 149 -
Number of Fixed penalty Notices to occupiers about their
management of household waste- 10
We have not been given more details about the individual cases by officers but I would not be at all surprised if some of the issues relate to problems with wheelie bins, bins on pavements and end of term waste in Redlands.
I am concerned about the effectiveness of issuing warnings to people who breach environmental regulaions and laws designed to keep our streets clean and tidy.
Is sending warnings a deterrent against future abuses? I have written to officers for a reassurances.
We welcomed the move earlier this year by the local Police team to start issuing fixed penalty notices against those who make our environment look a mess.
There are hotspots in Redlands like the one on Eldon Terrace where people are repeatedly dumping rubbish.
The response to this kind or regular abuse of environmental law should now be legal action from the Council against the landlord who prevents it and the people who do it.
Historically, the Labour administration has chronically underinvested in planning enforcement and legal resources making it very difficult for action to be taken quickly.
Outstanding planning enforcement cases in Redlands when I got elected in 2006 ran to several A4 pages. We are campaigning to get that number down. And to stop planning breaches like this one in Fatherson Road earlier this year from happening.
Already this year (between April and October) 233 warning letters have been sent out.
I'm pleased to report that the Council's newly-formed cross-Council Environmental Enforcement Group - the creation of which we strongly endorsed in our scrutiny review - is already having a real impact on joining up Council activity against environmental crime.
Officers have reported that since the group was set up (following our scrutiny review in June 2009) 19 difficult enforcement cases have been discussed and solutions sought.
We know from the Council's successful empty homes work that a flexible approach across Council departments and using powers available is what is needed to solve these problems.
Other positive developments that have flowed out of our scrutiny review include:
- Further improvements made to the website, including updating
information packs and links, creating a searchable HMO licence database which is
updated weekly and creating a reporting system for unlicensed HMOs - Process has been established by RBC working with Reading University to deal with noise related to students
- ‘Landlord Focus’ a newsletter produced by the Housing and Public
Health Team, which aims to address current issues affecting the private rented
sector now goes out quarterly to landlords, letting agents and Reading University
But there is still a long way to go, so we need to keep this issue on the scrutiny agenda going forward.
We need to challenge RBC and the University to co-ordinate their activity at the end of University terms better and we need to support officers to use the powers available to them to ensure our streets are as clean as they can be.
Not too much ask, surely?
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