Decisions

(Report of Director of Central Services and Deputy Chief Executive)

The report provided details of the Borough Council’s work in tackling graffiti, including the current reporting mechanisms, the cleaning and removal of graffiti and work with the Community Payback scheme.

Members welcomed the report and noted that the Borough Council’s current approach to tackling graffiti aimed to remove all offensive, racist and abusive graffiti from council-owned land and public property within 48 hours of it being reported, with priority being given to areas on or close to main roads, main town areas and schools.  However, the Borough Council would not remove graffiti from privately owned property, railway structures or telephone boxes and instead, residents would be encouraged to report this graffiti to the police or directly to the landowners.  A flowchart showing the process for reporting graffiti was attached at Annex 1.  A table providing examples of a number of other Kent local authorities’ approaches to tackling graffiti was provided at Annex 3.

The use of graffiti walls to address graffiti issues was discussed and a clarification was made between ‘graffiti walls’ and ‘graffiti/street art’.  Member supported a public consultation be undertaken to gather residents’ views on ‘graffiti walls’, subject to a clear definition of ‘graffiti walls’ being provided in the survey.

Following consideration by the Communities and Environment Scrutiny Select Committee, the Cabinet Member for Transformation and Infrastructure resolved that:

(1)        the graffiti reporting page on the website be further publicised to residents;

(2)        a Graffiti policy setting out how the Borough Council intended to tackle graffiti, be developed;

(3)        a single database to record reports of graffiti across Council Services and record when the graffiti had been removed, be developed; and

(4)        a survey to gather information of views on graffiti and ‘graffiti walls’ from residents, including Parish Councils, be undertaken within the borough.

Consideration was given to recommendation CE 23/46 of the Communities and Environmental Scrutiny Select Committee of 6 November 2023 in respect of proposed fees and charges for garden waste, household bulky refuse and fridge/freezer collections, ‘missed’ refuse collections, stray dog redemption fees, Tonbridge Allotments, Tonbridge Cemetery, events, billboards and banners, food certificates, contaminated land monitoring and private water supplies from 1 April 2024.

Due regard was given to the set of guiding principles for the setting of fees and charges, the legal, financial and value for money implications, together with the views expressed by the Scrutiny Select Committee.  The fees and charges applied by neighbouring authorities, and averages across the County, were also given careful consideration.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)      the proposed annual garden waste subscription of £53 for the first bin and £36 for a second or third bin, as set out in 1.2.4 of the report, be approved;

(2)      the schedule of proposed charges for household bulky refuse and fridge/freezer collection service as set out in 1.3.5 and 1.3.6 of the report, be approved;

(3)      the proposed charge for “missed” refuse collection as set out in 1.4.3 of the report, be approved;

(4)      the schedule of proposed charges in respect of Stray Dog redemption service, as set out in 1.5.3 to 1.5.5 of the report, be approved;

(5)      the charging structure for Tonbridge Allotment as set out in 1.6.1 and 1.6.2 of the report, be noted;

(6)      the schedule of proposed charges for Tonbridge Cemetery as set out in Annex 1 and 1.7.2 of the report, be approved;

(7)      the schedule of proposed charges for Events on Public Open Spaces, including the hire of billboards and banners, as set out in Annex 2 and 1.8 of the report, be approved;

(8)      the proposed charge for condemned food certificates as set out in 1.9.2 of the report, be approved;

(9)      the proposed charge for exported food certificates as set out in 1.10.4 of the report, be approved;

(10)    the proposed charge for provision of services in respect of contaminated land as set out in 1.13.5 of the report, be approved;

(11)    the proposed charge for provision of services in respect of private water supplies as set out in 1.14.3 and 1.14.5 of the report, be approved; and

(12)    the above proposed scale of charges be implemented from 1 April 2024.

Consideration was given to recommendation CE 23/45 of the Communities and Environment Scrutiny Select Committee of 6 November 2023 in respect of proposals for existing on street and off street parking fees and charges.

Due regard was given to the set of guiding principles for the setting of fees and charges, the legal, financial and value for money implications together with the views expressed by the Scrutiny Select Committee.  It was also noted that the last annual review of car parking charges was in 2021 and since those charges were implemented in June 2022, the high level of inflation had impacted on the cost of providing the parking service.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)        the proposed fees and charges for existing on street and off street parking, as set out below, be approved for formal public consultation in November 2023 and the outcomes reported to future meetings of the Joint Transportation Board and the Cabinet as appropriate, with implementation from 1 April 2024:

(i)         the schedule of proposed charges for off-street short and long stay parking in Tonbridge as shown in Table 1 of the report, be approved;

(ii)        the schedules of proposed Peak and Off-Peak Season Ticket charges in Tonbridge as shown in Tables 2 and 3 respectively, be approved;

(iii)        the charges for the Tonbridge Town Centre Residents Season ticket be increased to £90 for a 3-month ticket and £360 for an annual ticket respectively as set out in 1.6.4 of the report;

(iv)       the designated area for the Tonbridge Town Centre Residents Season ticket be extended to include residential properties in the area shown in orange in the Plan attached at Annex 1 and as detailed in 1.6.1 of the report;

(v)        the schedules of proposed charges for long stay and short stay parking in West Malling as shown in Tables 4 and 5 respectively and as detailed in 1.8.4 of the report, be approved, including increasing the charge for Ryarsh Lane car park annual season ticket to £290;

(vi)       the schedule of proposed charges for parking in Borough Green Western Road car park as shown in Table 6, be approved;

(vii)       the schedule of proposed charges for Residents Permits as shown in Table 7, be approved; the charge of 6-month Residents Permits offered to non-UK registered vehicles belonging to residents be increased to £28.50, as detailed in 1.9.2 of the report;

(viii)      the schedule of proposed charges for Business and Carers Permits and Dispensations as shown in Table 8, be approved;

(ix)       the charge of Visitor Permits be increased to £14 for a book of 10 permits, with the current offer of 10 free permits to new applicants being retained, as set out in 1.10.2 of the report;

(x)        the schedule of proposed charges for Haysden Country Park car park as shown in Table 9, be approved; and

(xi)       the schedule of proposed charges for on-street Pay & Display parking in Tonbridge as shown in Table 10, be approved; and

(2)      investigation be undertaken in respect of the facility of card reader ticket machines and/or adding card reading facility to existing car park ticket machines, and the outcomes be reported back to a future meeting of the Communities and Environment Scrutiny Select Committee.