Month: February 2016

Letter to HCC on Flytipping

/ lhvt

Head of Waste and Street Scene,
Hertsmere borough Council

Dear Sir,

Flytipping in and around Letchmore Heath.

On behalf of Letchmore Heath residents, we would like to highlight the increasing occurrence of fly tipping on roads in and around the village.

Three regular tipping sites are:

  • Pegmire Lane – Often the whole road is blocked for days on end as rubbish and household waste is dumped in the middle of the road. Dumping occurs at a bend in the road which is out of sight of local residents.
  • Primrose Lane – This is becoming another popular place to dump lorry loads of rubbish.
  • Common Lane – The fly tipping in Common Lane has been across the whole road, but tends to be in the layby near Battlers Green Farm and in the entrance to the allotments and footpath half way down the road.

Apart from any environmental concerns, visual vandalism and disruption and inconvenience to locals and drivers there is also the cost to tax payers in having to fund council services to remove the illegally dumped household waste.

In order to deter or even possibly provide evidence leading to prosecution, Letchmore Heath Village Trust was wondering whether it would be possible to install CCTV cameras at known and repeatedly used tipping sites. Although recognising that there are no simple and foolproof solutions to this increasing problem, CCTV cameras (real or false) together with some appropriate signage may act as a worthwhile and cost effective deterrent.

We would be very interested to hear your comments and proposals.  It’s recognised that there is a fly tipping hotline, which is used regularly, but due to the continuing escalation of this problem we felt a letter appropriate.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

 

Chairman LHVT

Letter to HCC on Potholes

/ lhvt

Highways Locality Officer,
Hertfordshire County Council

Dear Sir,

ROAD QUALITY – LETCHMORE HEATH VILLAGE.

The village of Letchmore Heath is accessed by three roads. Two of these – Grange Lane and Common Lane – are now in a dangerous state of disrepair and LHVT would appreciate your advice and help in addressing the issues involved.

Whilst road quality has been a continuing challenge, many Letchmore Heath residents (as well as other road users) now have genuine concerns for personal safety as well as for any damage to vehicles or causing further deterioration to road surface and erosion of roadside banks.

Grange Lane has a series of deepening ruts and dips as well as three or four deep potholes. These cause vehicles to swerve to avoid them, and as some of these are near a sharp bend on a narrow road with banks either side, it’s easy to visualise the safety issues arising. Passing approaching vehicles is a lottery. Significant vehicle damage has already been reported.

The road surface in Common Lane – an even narrower road with high banks either side – continues to rapidly deteriorate. There are a number of potholes with one large pothole continually reappearing even after repair.

Common Lane is as a major conduit through the village and used for daily access by many parents from the Radlett / St Albans area taking their children (usually in large 4 x 4s) to Aldenham School.

The third access road to the village is Aldenham Road, which is subject to regular flooding, even when the weather has not been as wet as recent months. This road has benefitted from recent minor repair work at the flood site.

On behalf of Letchmore Heath residents, we would greatly appreciate and thank you for your active support in improving the roads serving the village.

Yours sincerely,

 

Chairman LHVT

Fly Tipping

/ lhvt

flytipping-op-feb-2016_cropIn an effort to clamp down both on fly tipping and the road worthiness of waste carrying vehicles, a multi-agency operation took place recently.

The operation, involving specialist and Safer Neighbourhood Team officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary and council officers from our Environmental Health team took place on Friday 12 February and focused on access points to known fly tipping hot spots in the borough. A number of stop checks were carried out on commercial vehicles.

In total, 19 vehicles were stopped, prompting four waste licence enquiries to be carried out. Three drivers were dealt with for vehicle defect offences and ‘Smart Water’ was applied to one vehicle as a crime prevention measure.

Fly-tipping is a criminal offence and can really blight an area. Anybody who passes waste to an unknown person without exchanging traceable paperwork immediately commits an offence. This also applies to local residents, who should not pay to have waste removed from their property without first checking that the person removing the waste is a licensed waste carrier, and always obtain a receipt.

Fly-tipping can be reported via;

www.hertsmere.gov.uk/reportit
or by calling
020 8207 7480

If you see fly-tipping offences taking place, please contact the police via 999.