Despite what some of the local builders and landlords may believe, it is not permitted to store building rubbish in your front garden. Wandering about the Ladder, I've noticed a couple of gardens that are now full and overflowing with waste that should be in a skip.
You can report it. The best way may be the direct approach. I received this information below after trying and failing to report a particularly bad front garden, a repeat offender, through the new app.
I was contacted by the Single Frontline Technical Support Team Leader who suggested that I report these gardens by calling 020 8489 1335 or emailing frontline@haringey.gov.uk. So I think I will because one garden in particular if really taking the biscuit for skip avoidance.
Tags for Forum Posts: front gardens
The Environmental Protection Act enables the Council to require occupiers and landowners to remove waste that has been deposited illegally. The Council can also take steps under the Town and Country Planning Act to require land to be cleared up if its condition has a negative effect on the amenity of the local area.
From the council website.
The key here is has a negative effect on the amenity of the local area - thus someone who puts a few items out before going to the tip isn't going to affect anyone in the long term. A builder who is developing a property and clearly needs a skip but doesn't get one storing dangerous levels of waste in the front garden for weeks at a time is creating a negative effect. Ditto a house/landlord that uses a front garden to dump without any intention of clearing it to the tip Another side effect is pest invasion, namely rats, can result from this kind of behaviour as well as being a safety hazard both to visitors to the property or, in the case of the above house, even to those passing it.
So my post is aimed at dealing with front gardens that are used long term where a skip can and should be used or ones which landlords see as a sort of waste disposal area because they are too cheap to get things taken away.
I agree with both of you. The two extremes of the spectrum are pretty much common sense. But there seems a grey middle. Perhaps this might help.
Member Enquiry (Sent by me to Haringey at 11:12 am. Copied to the councillors for Harringay and St Ann's wards; to Lyn Garner, Director of Environment; and John Bevan "cabinet" councillor.
Apologies Liz, because you - sort of - invited me to comment in this thread, and so far I haven't picked up your specific invitations.
I must admit that I found it hard to know where to start since "Finsbury Park Ranger" seems so ready to dismiss the possible value of Council staff. Where do you begin a dialogue about a range of services with someone who says the people providing them "probably deserve" to lose their jobs. And who thinks solutions to problems are "pretty simple".
Blame All; or Praise All. Not a choice I can accept. Or at least not for very long. Although increasingly there are situations where the enormity of failure by the Council leadership and some senior officers is breathtaking.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
I am not a practising lawyer, but it's not my reading of this section that it's restricted only to front gardens. (Although your previous post did say you were complaining about "a tip front garden.")
A very brief websearch took me to this Best Practice Guidance issued in January 2005. It does specifically mention frontages. But it also contains rear gardens among its case studies. So unless this has been subsequently amended the answer you got appears inaccurate.
Although I'd guess that not everyone shares the same idea of what constitutes a tip rear garden. Also please bear in mind that a local council will have to convince a court.
Anyway can I suggest FPR, that you contact your ward councillor, copy them your photos and ask them to take this up. This is the very best time to get their cooperation as the London borough elections are in 221 days. (Figure taken from the very handy countdown clock on the website of Barnet Blogger Mr Mustard. It shows the days, hours, minutes and seconds ticking away.)
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
(P.S. I've had it confirmed that Kober's Council does plan a cut of over £200,000 to the "Frontline" Environment Service in the budget for next year. After the election; what a surprise. True this is due to government cuts. But at the same time there always seems enough money for some consultants; a few vanity projects; and stupid decisions like Pinkham Way.)
"The Neighbourhood Action Team does take steps to reduce the impact of unkempt front gardens on local residents and community as a whole. Our intervention is generally triggered when we receive a complaint from someone affected by the state of a front garden, usually a neighbour or someone living close to the problem but we will be proactive ourselves when we identify unsatisfactory situations. The legislation we use requires that before we can intervene, we must be reasonably certain the front garden issue is 'detrimental to the local amenity' and therefore local complaints are useful in supporting intervention."
"However, we also take a pragmatic approach while dealing with these front gardens. When officers visit to assess the issue, we do take into consideration why rubbish is present and how long it has been there. Property alterations, decorating, gardening all produce some waste that needs to be disposed of, we have no objection to this rubbish being in front gardens for as short a period of time as possible, to avoid the likelihood of someone making a formal complaint."
"Our main goal is to ensure the issue is resolved in a reasonable time. In most cases this can be achieved during our initial conversation with the person responsible for the rubbish. We understand residents do on occasion need to put rubbish in front gardens prior to its collection but there are no rules to advise how long it is required to be there before it becomes 'detrimental'. Therefore, each issue is investigated on its own merits, and the severity or impact of the issue would dictate if the problem can be dealt with informally or by Statutory Notice. If Notice is served, the resident has a minimum of 28 days to comply with our instructions to clear the rubbish, the process is clearly not an overnight solution and therefore allows residents ample time to act before the issue is escalated to formal court action."
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