Annex 4
REIGATE AND BANSTEAD BOROUGH COUNCIL
LEADER’S MEETING – 22ND SEPTEMBER 2003
REPORT OF THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SERVICES TO THE COMMUNITY ON
ABANDONED CARS FOR THE PERIOD APRIL – JUNE 03
AND
GRAFFITI FOR THE PERIOD APRIL – JUNE 03
ABANDONED CARS
1.1 Background
· Last financial year there were 1670 Reports of Abandoned Vehicles made to this Authority that resulted in 588 vehicles being removed and destroyed.
· In the first 3 months of this financial year there has been a 12% increase in reports and the same percentage increase in the number of vehicles disposed each month.
· There is a significant increase in national figures as the graph below shows.
1.2 Legislation
· Current legislation allows us to remove wrecks and burnt-outs immediately – however where possible checks should be made with DVLA and the Police to ensure that the vehicle is not a scene of crime or subject to criminal investigation. Once these checks are made an order is placed with our contractor G. W. & G. Bridges (‘Bridges’) to remove and dispose of the vehicle.
1.3 Disposal
· ‘Bridges’ are the only Vehicle Disposal facility within our region that is fully compliant with the relevant regulations and licensing. Although a contractor located in Mitcham has recently indicated their ability to meet ELV disposal standards and we will be entering into preliminary discussions with them.
· ‘Bridges’ have given a very good service to the Council over several years and often can collect a vehicle the next working day but they are extremely busy and at times it can be 2-3 days before they can schedule our work in. They do try to respond quickly where a vehicle is in a sensitive or dangerous location but even this can be 1-2 days especially over a weekend or at periods of peak activity.
1.4 Process
· Where the vehicle is not burnt out or a wreck but is of minimal value (less than £500) we check with the Police and DVLA to ascertain any reported problems or criminal issues and confirm details of the last registered keeper. A 7-day notice is then placed on the vehicle. Following the 7-day period, again ‘Bridges’ can take several days to respond and remove the vehicle, although it is often the next working day.
· Where vehicles have significant value (over £500) the Council has a duty to attempt to contact the registered keeper. This involves writing a letter to the keeper as well as posting a 7-day notice on the car. DVLA and Police checks are also made. An order is then sent to ‘Bridges’ as above.
1.5 Performance
· Performance against targets in the first quarter appears poor.
· 65% of all reported abandoned vehicles are either claimed by an owner, removed by “persons unknown” or were never actually abandoned (often neighbours become involved in disputes over parking or tax). These still have to be investigated and checked, which takes a significant amount of time.
· Wrecks:- 32% of them were removed within 24 hours against a target of 50%.
· Others:- 56% were removed within 11 days against a target of 75%.
· The standard for removing wrecks (24 hours) is appropriate. The standard for removing others moved from 7 days to 11 days, reflecting the process outlined in para 1.4.
1.6 Improvement of Service.
· We will run DVLA checks and serving notices concurrently in some cases.
· The NSO supervisor will check outstanding notices and reports on a weekly basis.
· Restructuring of the Neighbourhood Services team will improve the focus on street cleansing including abandoned vehicles, graffiti and fly-tipping.
· Another answer would be to submit a growth bid in the Budget Round for 04/05 to purchase a lorry with a Hydraulic lifting arm (Hyab) that could be used to collect burnt out and wrecked vehicles or those abandoned in sensitive or dangerous locations. It is intended that we will continue to use ‘Bridges’ for the bulk of the removals. A Hyab would give the Council a more direct control over operations and the ability to act immediately in sensitive or dangerous situations. Such a vehicle would also afford the opportunity to enhance and expand our service provision in other areas of recycling and waste management e.g.: flytipping. Officers are examining the economics of this to allow it to be evaluated against other priorities.
2. GRAFFITI
2. 1 Background
· With the purchase of the graffiti-buster machine, graffiti which had been present in the borough for up to several years has been removed. Having removed the backlog, challenging targets of 48 hours for prominent locations and 14 days for other locations, were set.
2.2 Performance
· Performance against these targets in the first quarter appears poor.
· On the prominent locations only 17% were removed within the time. In practice there were 6 reports, only 1 was removed within 48 hours, all the others took up to 5 days.
· The performance for other locations within 14 days was 86%. All were removed within 20 days.
· Performance in the first quarter was affected by mechanical breakdowns and at times the labour resource being diverted onto high priorities. Of all the services delivered by Neighbourhood Services, refuse collection always has to be given the highest priority and staff have been re-directed to this on some occasions.
· 96 sites have been cleared this year to date. The war memorials at Kingswood and Horley have been cleaned to local acclaim and the memorial at Merstham planned.
2.3 Improvement of Service
· A steam-cleaner has been trialled and an order has been placed to purchase one to enable removal of chewing gum, the cleaning of paved areas, and removal of light graffiti.
· We will ensure that prominent locations are treated more promptly.
3. RECOMMENDATIONS
RECOMMENDED that:
(i) Members note the contents of this report and the action being undertaken.
Background Documents:
Contact Officer: Sam Rosborough, Deputy Director of Services to the Community. Extn 6634