Redlands Liberal Democrats

Redlands hit by new graffiti outbreak

It appears that Redlands ward has been hit by graffiti taggers again. This environmental degradation really gets residents down, as you can imagine and we are determined to ensure the Council stays on top of the problem. Out talking to residents around Erleigh Road yesterday I came across a lot tags - on Erleigh Road itself there has been an outbreak of tagging in red paint - including this road sign on Denmark Road:

A few weeks ago I also reported this tag (below on Hatherley Road):

A short walk up London Road revealed this tag:

 I also noticed graffiti on Fatherson Road. I have reported these tags and more like them to Reading Borough Council's Streetcare team so that they can be logged on the Thames Valley Police database and removed as soon as possible. A couple of years ago after pressure from the local Lib Dems the Council carried out a 'Big Graffiti Clean Up' campaign to remove graffiti tags from local streets. My colleague Glenn Goodall reported back in January another graffiti outbreak in our area. In February one of the graffiti taggers responsible for 'PERSIA' 'OMG' tags in Redlands was given a five year ASBO .

Last year I raised issues about what the Council was doing to keep this problem under control . Glenn and I met officers in Streetcare to calll for more action. It sounds like we might need to do so again. An ongoing issue with residents is the high charges imposed on them for graffiti removal on private property by the Labour-run Council. I had an email from one constituent who was none to happy about the high charges - she is a pensioner on a fixed income who is already facing a £2,000 Council Tax bill! Not good. The cost to the Council in cleaning up graffiti each year is estimated to be around £150,000. I do think the Council needs to look at ways of diverting taggers from residentital areas - perhaps via a graffiti wall. My Lib Dem colleagues have raised this with RBC but so far officers have not been keen on the idea. In the meantime, please help us in our campaign to keep local streets free of graffiti - please let us know of any problem areas and report tags to the Council using this online form.

OMG tag attack!

Now that the ice and snow has begun to melt it has become apparent that, once again, Redlands has become the victim of mass tagging by graffiti 'artists'.

The tag 'OMG' can be seen all the way along the length of Addington road.  This week I reported graffiti in the following positions:

• On the corner of Addington road with Redlands road all over the fencing
• Addington road/Redlands road junction, Virgin Media box
• On the bus stops on Addington road
• Addington road/Hatherley road (Provident Credit) there is even more graffiti. I had reported some here recently but it hadn't been cleaned off yet. 
• The Property on the corner of Addington road/Alexandra road has once again has been a target for the OMG tag
• Virgin media box outside the same property

I suspect these wont be removed until the snow melts and streetcare can get to the sites. I'll keep you posted on any further developments.

If you are concerned about graffiti or have any other problems please contact me at glenn_goodall@hotmail.com

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.

Tackling Crime: Update on two Lib Dem Campaigns

Good news today as the Police report the arrest of two people for criminal damage offences (tagging) in the Erleigh Road area.

This follows the launch of our local campaign for action on tagging a couple of weeks ago.

It's good also to hear Inspector Kevin Sinfield reiterate the Police's commitment to dealing with this problem. From discussions I've had with him the problem comes when these cases get to court and the way magistrates deal with these type of offences and offenders.

I am aware that officers from RBC and TVP are meeting today to discuss the issues we have raised and ensure that resources are targetted in the right areas. I will be meeting officers shortly to get an update on what these bodies plan to do about the graffiti upsurge in Redlands and much of central and south Reading.

I know Kevin very well and have the utmost respect for him: he has invested a lot of time and effort in making  Neighbourhood Policing work for the local community of South and East Reading - attending hundreds of Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) meetings over the past couple of years. 

I meet him regularly to discuss local crime matters.

In other campaign news, I held a meeting last Friday with Cllr Warren Swaine and senior RBC officers from Marketing & PR to discuss the roll-out of a communications package for Neighbourhood Action Groups - a key Lib Dem win for local people out of the Budget process in March.

The meeting was very positive and it was great to hear how the money saved by scrapping 'Live Reading' magazine will be put to good use: engaging the local community about crime issues which affect them.

Officers are currently meeting with the Police, NAG chairs and councillors work out what communication support will be most useful to NAGs. I personally think a regular e-newsletter and leaflet for all NAGs is essential so that local people can find out when NAG meetings are and how they can get involved.

Publicising the work of the NAGs will also raise the profile of Neighbourhood Police teams in Reading and increase community confidence and reduce fear of crime.

It's not just the Lib Dems in Reading who have been saying this. Experts appointed by the government to review where Labour went wrong in the fight against crime have said the same thing.

Last June, Louise Casey led a Cabinet Office review into how best to engage communities in fighting crime and one of her key findings was that local people want more information about crime and crime fighting in their areas and they want following:

• Information about action – they want to know what the police and others are doingto tackle crime, they want feedback on action where they have reported crimes or raised problems, and to see and hear more about what happens to people arrested and convicted of crime, including more visible signs of punishment in the community. ‘What action has bee taken and who has been caught and punished’

• Straight facts – not just statistics, but reliable, clear, accessible and ‘non-spun’ facts so that theycan see not just what problems are occurring but what steps are being taken to tackle them.

• Practical information – providing names, photographs, phone numbers and e-mailaddresses of local police teams and other agencies, how to report non-emergency incidents and follow other police procedures, where and when to meet them to discuss concerns and priorities and other opportunities to get involved in tackling and preventing crime Information from a variety of sources – suggestions included ‘advertorials’ in localnewspapers, local newsletters, through Neighbourhood Watch, in public meetings, ‘surgeries’,walk-in centres and street-meetings, direct from chatting to police officers and PCSOs on thebeat, and through websites, e-mails, mobile phone texting and messaging networks.

• Local information – relevant to the neighbourhood they live in.

• Regular information

– the strongest preference was for monthly information

Obvious really. But like most things this government has done, the implementation of Neighbourhood Policing was rushed and ill-thought out, hence the need for active councillors to campaign to put things right at a local level in the way we are trying to do.

Tagging Campaign: Update

It seems our graffiti campaign has attracted some attention, including a wag suggesting that I may be responsible for the explosion of tags in the area! Nice try.

Glenn and I continue to spot new tags appearing daily: keep up to date on the Campaign via our Facebook Group,  and  upload any tags you see to our Flickr site so we can make the authorities aware.

I was fascinated by the response of the Labour Lead Councillor for the Environment, Cllr Paul Gittings in the press article on our campaign this week:

“There is no let up in the battle and since the Big Clean Up Campaign the resources have stayed the same and we have dedicated teams who will remove graffiti all over Reading.

That's slightly at odds to what Council officers told me if you read this post. There are now fewer graffiti cleaning vehicles on the road in Reading, and as far as I'm aware the Crime Reduction Partnership (CDRP) is no longer contributing financially towards the Council's anti-graffiti effort.

Also, as I said before, the 'Big Clean Up Campaign' was strictly time limited - for one year only, which again casts doubt on Cllr Gitting's assertions that the BCUP is continuing in all but name.

I am also interested in Cllr Gitting's other claim in the Post article:

“If it is on private property then there is a charge, but if it is on the public highway we will remove it as swiftly as we can.”

This is factually not correct: the Council will remove some graffiti free of charge, but the problem is the area they do clean for free is limited to only 1 square metre. This means that with most tags on private property, the charge falls on residents.

This is particularly unfair at a time when money is tight. The Council and the Police must take some responsibility for the state of our streets: Council tax payers in Reading expect it.

This was brought home to me again by a constituent who emailed me this week:

"For the second time in two years my property has been attacked by vandals tagging a wall and two pillars. And for the second time in two years I have to pay the council for the removal of this damage.

 Although I was assured that I would only have to pay for the cost of the materials involved I believe that £71.00 for 2 litres of paint and 4 litres of a cleaning chemical is absurd.

If this is what the council is paying for these products the buyer responsible should be questioned closely.

Both incidents were reported to the police as well as to the council and yet the area is still suffering from the blight of graffiti attacks.

In addition the shop fronts along the parade at the end of Addington Road are a disgrace and no attempt has been made to clean this area up.

 Whilst this amount of graffiti remains on open view the mindless idiots who carry out this type of vandalism will assume that it is ok to continue to blight the area.

I know that this problem is dear to your heart it is a pity that it is not receiving the priority that it deserves."

I couldn't agree more which is why I have written to officers requesting a meeting to discuss what action the Police and Council, together, plan to take to halt this decline in our neighbourhoods.

The fight back starts here

Well, I said earlier in the week that I could feel another campaign coming on - the campaign to turn the tide on tagging in Reading (which has recently got out of control around Redlands and across Reading).

In my previous posts I have outlined the fact that the so-called 'Big Clean Up' campaign has been quietly dropped by the Labour administration. As a result of this there is a clear need to refocus the attention of both the Council and the Police to tackle the tagging epidemic we are currently facing in Reading.

Glenn and I kicked off the campaign proper today by walking around the ward taking photos of tags and reporting them to the Council for removal. We were shocked by the number of tags we found.

I have set up a Facebook Group and am trialing a new concept: a Flickr Group to allow people to upload images of tags near them so we can get them cleared.

Get involved and help us keep the pressure up for action.

Graffiti in Reading: time for a new campaign

In October 2008, Steve Waite (pictured here, copyright the Evening Post), former Labour Lead Councillor for the Environment on the Council, said of the Council's Big Clean Up" campaign:

"The project so far has been an unprecedented success and a tribute to the staff involved. However, this is just the first stage of the clean up and we are not complacent and expect our work to continue for some time to come."

I'm sorry to have to report that earlier today a Council officer confirmed to me what Superintendent Steve Kirk hinted at last week, that this highly successful campaign is no more.

As if you hadn't noticed, looking around the Borough at the massive increase in graffiti in recent months.

This campaign was launched following a dramatic increase in graffiti in 2007- when a massive 22% of Reading's streets and open spaces were defaced by graffiti and an active campaign by local Lib Dems.

It focussed on areas worst hit by graffiti - beginning in Redlands.

It had previously been Labour's policy to charge residents £35 pounds per hour for graffiti removal from private properties. The Lib Dems successfully lobbied the administration to get this changed.

The four key elements of the campaign were as follows:

1. The introduction of a third new graffiti clean-up van, with the latest specialist equipment to tackle graffiti;
2. The deployment of a further two specialist graffiti teams just for a year, clamping down on long standing graffiti which has spoiled the look of neighborhoods for a long time. This is a particular problem because it becomes part of the landscape and people don't bother to report it;
3. After the Big Graffiti Clean-up in a particular area of the town, the introduction of free graffiti removal of ‘tagging’ of up to one square metre in size from private properties, and the removal from small businesses or housing association properties for a small cost;
4. Partnership work with the police developed further to bring about more enforcement and prosecutions.

And it is clear that this approach was very effective and made a big difference to the level of graffiti on our streets.  Over an 8 month period RBC's Streetcare team responded to 820 reports from residents and 100 reports from councillors (as one officer remarked I was responsible for a large proportion of these!)

But, the campaign was only planned by Labour to last for one year: from June 2007 to July 2008.

This disappointing news makes me beg the question: was the Big Graffiti Clean Up Campaign just another pre-election bribe by Labour?

Now that the campaign has come to an end, I am told that the Council now only has three rather than five specialist vehicles at it's disposal, operating across the Borough removing graffiti tags.

In addition, the loss of the £20,000 contribution which had been made to the 'Big Clean Up' by the Safer Reading Campaign  (the local Crime Reduction Partnership) will also have an impact on what can be achieved.

Leaving aside the impact on this reduction in resources, you do wonder whether efforts to tackle graffiti are now as focussed as they were when there was an active, high proflile campaign across the Borough. This is a problem when the need for action on graffiti is no less acute.

So what now? Well, in terms of the bad graffiti situation we are facing in Reading at the moment I received this response from RBC yesterday:

"It has been noticeable that the amount of graffiti has been increasing recently across Reading and whilst I can appreciate your concerns in Abbey, Redlands and Katesgrove the problem is widespread and we have to allocate our resources accordingly, having said this we are aware of the particular problems in these wards and are reacting as best we can."

Our operatives are still working with TVP and all new tags are photographed and recorded on the database."

While it is clear that officers are working hard to deal with the graffiti upsurge within existing resources, the fact that this project has been wound up clearly shows that tackling graffiti is no longer a priority for Reading Borough Council's Labour administration.

It's good to hear that partnership working between the Council and Police continues to tackle taggers (it is one which had a number of high profile successess).

However, I do wonder whether that without resources for the 'Big Clean Up' our overstretched local Police teams will be able to continue to  crack down effectively on those responsible for this criminal damage (which is what unwanted graffiti is), whilst also dealing with other more serious crimes such as burglary.

Judging by the angry response to an article in today's Post on the explosion in graffiti in central and south Reading, I think Labour politicians may well regret the decision to cut short this popular and successful campaign.

What we would not want to see is a return to Labour's  which was to charge local householders for graffiti clean ups. This is something the Lib Dems actively campaigned to change a couple of years ago.

As I said of the "Big Clean Up" campaign last March:

"..we just need to make sure that the Council continues to invest resources into tackling graffiti and also spends wisely on diversionary tactics to prevent repeat attacks. We believe strongly that a one off clean up is needed alongside ongoing work to prevent graffiti building up in public places"

Whilst  it is apparent that some political parties in Reading appear to have lost interest in tackling graffiti, be reassured that the Lib Dems, however, will continue to campaign for a cleaner, greener Reading.

It goes without saying that In the current economic climate finding additional resources to devote to tackling the problem of graffiti over the next few years will be difficult.

We will be investigating ways in which the battle against those who deface our streets and public spaces can be stepped up in the future.

What a mess!

Last week I mentioned that we had noticed a sharp rise in graffiti tags around the ward.

I received an email today from a constituent about this problem:

'...just to report an increase in the last week or so of graffiti on the walls and a garage door as well as the green "junction boxes"  between Allcroft Road and the top of Redlands.  I also note that the bus stop at the green has been attacked again as have the fronts of the shops.  I have reported the walls and garage door to the police following a recent article in the Evening Post but have heard nothing more.  I have also seen fresh graffiti this morning on the way to work on the Reading Bowling Club building on Kendrick Road - it's a real mess!'

Jonny Fordham's article in the Evening Post to which my correspondent refers helped to raise the profile of this issue and I hope the number of reports to the Council and the Police have increased.

I quizzed Superintendent Steve Kirk last night at a meeting of the Safer Reading Campaign about what was being done locally to catch the taggers responsible.

The Police have had some successes but it is difficult for them to catch taggers when this offence is just one in a long list of local priorities.

He admitted that although the 'Big Clean Up Campaign' led by the Council, working closely with the Police had been effective in reducing the amount of graffiti on our streets, resources were now being diverted elsewhere.

This is a concern. While criminal damage may appear to be a minor offence, graffiti can make our neighbourhoods look very rundown, as well as lead to other anti-social behaviour creeping up in an area.

Each month Kirsten, Glenn and I get lots of emails about graffiti so it clearly is an issue that local people get very fed up about.

Until a couple of years ago, and active campaigning  by the Lib Dems the Council used to charge residents for graffiti removal. We think that the free graffiti removal service should continue.

As my constituent points out our area is becoming a mess. Sadly, it seems every year Redlands is the target for taggers, I'm not quite sure why.

I will be making urgent enquiries about what resources are at the Council's disposal to ensure the good work achieved by the Streetcare team and local Police in tackling graffiti over the last couple of years is not undone.

The Council and Police must not let vandals hijack our streets and open spaces. Now is not the time to let taggers off the hook.

That all important info again: If you come across graffiti in your area please report it to the Police on 0845 8 505 505 so it can be logged on their database of tags. The Council will also remove the graffiti free of charge - call Streetcare on 0800 834 035.

More local action

As regular readers of this blog will know cleaning up the Redlands area is something that Glenn, Kirsten and I spend a lot of our time on . At a Borough-wide level, our recent victory on bulky waste collections is just part of our ongoing campaign to make Reading as a whole an nicer place to live.

Picking up from where my recent post on the problem of litter left off, I'm pleased to report that the Council has listened to us and agreed to install two additional litter bins on Elmhurst Road and to monitor the area to ensure litter levels are kept under control.

In other news the Council's Streetcare has agreed to remove rubbish from Bamburgh Close, Hadrians Walk West and to carry out a deep clean on Hexham Road following requests from the Lib Dems.

A team of hardworking councillors' work is never done, however. In a busy urban area, no sooner is one issue tackled when another one rears its head.

A resident contacted me today about rubbish being dumped in an alley-way linking Hatherley Road and Donnington Gardens. I have written to the Council's HMO Licensing team asking them to investigate.

When I stood for election in 2006 this was a massive problem in alley-ways on Foxhill Road and Addington Road. I'm pleased to say my campaign for alley gates gained via Safer Reading Campaign funding successfully resolved that problem and also helped reduce opportunities for burglars and anti-social behaviour.

Graffiti, specifically tagging, sadly also continues to be a major problem in Redlands and Katesgrove at the moment, as highlighted in the Evening Post today. We have been reporting any graffiti we see as often as we can to be removed.

If you come across graffiti in your area please report it to the Police on 0845 8 505 505 so it can be logged on their database of tags. The Council will also remove the graffiti free of charge - call Streetcare on 0800 834 035.