Redlands Liberal Democrats

Whitley Park Lane - Fly Tipping Hot Spot: Action Needed

I'm grateful to constituent @Myriad_Comm for tweeting me recently about a return of environmental problems on Whitley Park Lane.

Over the past year we have been supporting local residents who want to see the shopkeepers on Christchurch Road keep the lane behind the shops on Whitley Park Lane tidier. We held a meeting with the Council and shopkeepers earlier this year to reinforce the concerns of residents about the state of areas.

As the picture I took earlier today shows this area is once again being used as a place to dump rubbish. Further down the lane I noticed two dumped mattresses.

I have written to Reading Borough Council's Streetcare team asking them to raise this matter urgently with shopkeepers and remind them of their responsiblities as regards waste management and the local environment.

Tackling the menace of repeat fly-tipping on Eldon Terrace

 

I spotted this mess while out in the ward earlier today. It is located a longstanding fly-tipping hotspot on Eldon Terrace - a privately-owned car park behind an office block on Kings Road.

Over the years televisions, black bags and mattresses have been dumped here - on the edge of a residential street in Redlands.

After I raised the issue numerous times with RBC Streetcare the landlord installed gates to the car park - sadly these were open when I passed today.

I have written to officers requesting that they get the landlord to take more effective action to prevent the despoiling of this pleasant street at the heart of the Eldon Conservation Area in future.

Action on Eldon Terrace fly tipping

Fly tipping has a been a problem for a number of years on Eldon Terrace on the corner of Town Place. Rubbish has regularly been dumped in an office car park which backs on to the Terrace, blighting this beautiful Conservation Area. This has posed the Council with some problems in terms of enforcement - mainly because it is occurring on privately-owned land.

I have been repeatedly raising this issue with the Council but finally at long last we appear to be making progress. Officers met today with representatives of the landowner to discuss ways to reduce the problem. Amoungst various issues that were discussed included a regular cleaning program for the car park in general including the bin store and the intention to reinstall a gate. The daily cleaners in the area have also been instructed to monitor the bin area.

I will be monitoring the area closely. If you see any rubbish dumped in the area please report it to the Council so further action can be taken.

Action to keep Cintra Park area clean and green

Following my post last weekend about the outbreak of fly tipping in Redlands, I am pleased to report that in response to my request officers from Streetcare will be actively monitoring the area around Christchurch Green shops and Cintra Park to ensure shopkeepers and others are living up to their responsibilities when it comes to the management of trade waste. Shop keepers and other businesses have responsibilities under the Environmental Protection Act (1990). If they fail to adhere to these they can be prosecuted.

Officers have reported that the edge of Cintra Park (Whitley Park entrance - where we discovered a pile of rubbish last weekend) is owned by the University of Reading and managed by a contractor. RBC officers have instructed them to remove the rubbish asap.

It is not acceptable that the lane behind the shops and the edge of Cintra Park is being used as a dumping ground and we will be keeping an eye on this to ensure this does not happen in future.

I will be writing to residents in the area shortly to update them and to encourage them to report any issues to us so waste and fly tipping problems are tackled. If you notice anything untoward please get in touch.

New fly tipping outbreak in Redlands

This morning we were knocking on doors around Christchurch Road. It was really nice to talk to residents and identify issues of concern we could assist them with. 

Issues that came up on the doorstep today included:

• People cycling on pavements on Christchurch Road - we are campaigning for more safe cycle routes around the ward to make life easier for cyclists and pedestrians
• Car crime on Cintra Close - I've written to Thames Valley Police to request more patrols from the Neighbourhood Team

We also collected a number of signatures as part of our campaign to improve road safety and parking problems on Cintra Avenue and Warwick Road. You can also print of the petition form and sign it here.

In an otherwise positive session I was sorry to come across a large amount of rubbish dumped by the entrance to Cintra Park on Whitley Park Lane.

 
Talking to residents in the area today it appears that this is a relatively new problem. Three or four years ago I campaigned to get the Council to tidy up Cintra Park - including reducing the amount of litter. Historically there have been problems with trade waste building up in the a lane that runs behind the shops on Christchurch Road. Speaking to residents it appears that once again this is a problem with rubbish being dumped behind the shops and burnt. This is really anti-social in such a highly-residential area and I have written to the Council's Streetcare team to request an urgent clean up, as well as an investigation into how this problem can be tackled. From a ward perspective I am pleased that the Coalition Council recently agreed to refocus street-level services on combatting environmental crimes - something that has long been a major concern to residents in Redlands.

Finally, on a lighter note - check out our campaign video which we made a couple of years ago, highlighting the problem of fly-tipping in Reading.

 

Hexham estate ward surgery

Today we had a very good ward surgery at the Hexham road community centre, which is a vibrant hub for the local community.

At the Centre you can now recycle your used batteries in the special recycling bin. This is something I have been calling for for several years - So it was a very welcome sight!

After talking to residents and helping them with their problems, we had a ward walk-about. Every weekend we have a walk-about in a different part of the ward. This time we picked up and reported several cases of flytipping, building repair and asked for several areas to be litter picked.

Traffic in the area, especially in front of the community centre has been an issue for some time and we are working to fix the problems.

Up coming ward surgerys:

• 20 Nov 2010 - St Luke’s Church Hall, Erleigh Road from 10:00am until 12 noon.
• 18 Dec 2010 - Upper Redlands road (between New road and Avebury Square), Readibus - 10:00am until 11:30am.

Feel free to drop by, or e-mail us using the address' above...

Listening to residents on Bede Walk (and taking action)

Last month I knocked on doors on Bede Walk as part of our regular effort to keep in touch with constituents all year round. We have spent a lot of time helping residents in this area since 2006 as they tended to be overlooked by the Labour Council. This extended to me getting them a new road sign as before it was difficult for people making deliveries to find them! When I spoke to them last month residents complained about a number of issues and expressed their general dissatisfaction with the way that Labour is running the Council in Reading.I took up the issues residents raised with me directly with the Council and have summarised them briefly below:

Dog fouling

Dog fouling is one of the top issues of concern on the Walk (and across South Reading) and it’s something my colleagues and I have been raising with Reading Borough Council for a couple of years now, trying to get action taken to keep footpaths clean. I wrote to RBC to request a fence to protect residents’ gardens and to request a Dog Control Order (DCO) be brought in to cover the estate – this would give RBC the power to issue fixed penalty notices. DCOs are orders that the Labour government gave councils under the Clean Neighbourhoods Act 2005 (replacing earlier legislation) Labour-run has so far not brought in any orders. RBC officers are investigating whether or not this can be done. I have been told that the Council cannot afford to pay for fencing.

Fence next to Reading Girls School

The combination of this unsightly, broken down fence and overgrown trees has been a bugbear for local residents for many years. Several residents complained to me about this and I am very frustrated as I have been raising this issue with the School’s officers for about three years.I have written to the School once again seeking assurance that action will be taken to sort the fence out. I have received this response from Charles Ainslie at the School via Peter Kayes - former Labour councillor for Redlands and Governor at the School who has helped to push this forward:
“The fence we can’t do anything about until the new budget. It will be replaced with a chain link unfortunately as we can’t afford the weld mesh.
The litter is on a schedule with our litter picker to do once a week. I will make sure it is being done. However it is a constant battle.”

Garage Area
I noticed on my recent visit to the walk that a number of cobble stones have been removed as part of a pattern of anti-social behaviour over a period of months. I have written to RBC officers about this and the issue is now being investigated by the Garage Officer. I also reported a large amount of bulky waste that had been dumped behind the garage area to the Council for removal. We have campaigned over the past couple of years to get repairs to the alley gates to reduce break-ins and also to get tougher action taken against residents who dump rubbish.

Useful numbers

• If you have any concerns about your property, dog-fouling, fly-tipping the alley-way or garage area please contact Neighbourhood Officer Ashley Blackwood on 0118 939 0161
• Please help us keep your area clean and green please report any dumped rubbish or litter to Streetcare on (freephone) 0800 626 540.
• Crime and anti-social behaviour – the only way we can get action taken and more Police presence is to report any issues to Thames Valley Police. You can call the Police free 24 hours a day on 0845 8 505 505.

Because many residents on the Walk do not have access to the internet I will be writing to them about the action we have taken as well. If you live there and have any concerns you wish to raise with us - please get in touch!

Lib Dems challenge Labour to deliver cleaner streets in Reading

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?

The estate we're in

This week I've spent some time speaking to a number of residents on Hexham Road estate about a range of issues that need sorting out. I really enjoying catching up with constituents - many of them are good friends now as I've spent a lot of time in the area over the years.

First some good news.

The Council has just completed a public consultation on plans to plant more trees, flowers and plants on the estate. This was the result of a very successful local Lib Dem campaign to improve the local environment.

We welcomed the plans but made it clear that whatever is proposed must be what residents want. We encouraged residents to have their say and as a result some of the plans will be subtly changed.

The tree and bulb planting is due to get underway in early December - can't wait!

On the back of the consultation I picked up concerns from residents about motorbike nuisance and arson near the roundabout on Stanhope Road.

Motorbikes are being ridden illegally by youngsters up and down the road at speed and cars are being dumped and sent on fire on the roundabout. I have raised this matter urgently with Thames Valley Police and RBC and hopefully action will be taken to catch the culprits. We are also looking to see if the roundabout

I was also contacted by a resident on Bede Walk about more anti-social behaviour by the garages. A car was broken into earlier this week.

This area has been a hotspot for crime problems over the past few years and we are calling once again for more Police patrols in the area (and potentially CCTV). I really hope residents are listened to.

It's really important that residents continue to report crimes to the Police so we get the Police coverage we need. Any issues should be phoned in on 0845 8 505 505.

I went down to the estate yesterday after work to speak to residents about these issues and reported the following problems while I was down there:

• Faulty streetlight on Hexham Road (by the Community Centre)
• Damaged door to flats (Kielder Court)
• Fly-tipping by the garages on Bede Walk
• Empty RBC property on Bede Walk

There is still a lot of work to do on the estate to make things better for residents but I am confident things are now heading in the right direction.

Local police back Lib Dem call for action to clean up University area

Regular readers of this blog will be aware of our local campaign for more action by the Council, University and Police to tackle the problem of the build up of rubbish in and around the University area.

There has been a potentially positive development today with news that the local Neighbourhood Police team is set to start issuing fixed penalty notices of £75 against those who despoil the local environment.

My Lib Dem colleagues and I have been campaigning for several years for a better response from local public bodies and we have regularly highlighted the problems of overflowing bins, skips and bulky waste dumped in gardens around the University area.

It's good to see the local media continue to report this issue which is of major concern to our residents.

Many local residents we have spoken to have backed our call for action and have helped get the message across to those who need to hear it.

The Conservative MP for Reading East and local Labour activists have both belatedly backed our call for action. It's good to have them on board.

Our lobbying has resulted in a number of significant wins for local residents which will help make the area cleaner and greener.

We recognise, however, that there is a lot more to be done before local people will be satisfied by the efforts of the local Council and the University to get on top of this problem.

We have specifically requested on several occasions over the years that the Council and the Police use the legal powers available to them to make sure that our local streets and public areas are not used as a dumping ground.

For this reason, today's news about fixed penalty notices is most welcome. These notices will need to be used sparingly and carefully by the Police but they will help get the message across to landlords and others that failing to deal with waste at rented (or privately owned) properties is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.