Keeping Wallington clean and safe

Action on business flytipping & waste management

The shopping areas in our ward covering Stafford Road and Wallington town centre were starting to look scruffy with increasing incidents of flytipping and trade waste left blocking pavements.

Your ward Councillors regularly report flytipping as we are out and about and have called in the Council’s enforcement team to tackle businesses whose poor waste management was resulting in complaints from local residents. These cases in Charlotte Road and Ross Parade have been addressed and the situation considerably improved.4

In the case of Lavender Vale some improvement was made but residents advised it was still causing an issue so the Enforcement Team will be returning to speak to the landlords and businesses involved.

The latest initiative to bring all local businesses up to standard is a letter that has been delivered to all local businesses in Stafford Road and Wallington town centre advising them of their legal responsibilities regarding waste management and keeping the public highway clear.

This has been followed up with spot checks to ensure businesses do indeed hold the correct paperwork. Fixed Penalty Notices were issued to three businesses who were found to be non-compliant.

We are lucky that Wallington is a thriving commercial centre including some excellent independents and with new businesses regularly moving in.

To remain attractive to shoppers and residents we need all businesses to contribute towards keeping the area clean and clear for pedestrians, which in turn benefits the businesses with greater footfall.

Graffiti removal 

We contacted the managing agents for Wallington Square and they promptly removed the offensive graffiti that appeared on their signage recently.

We also got the council to successfully remove graffiti from benches in the square and offensive graffiti on utility boxes, and Sainsburys removed the graffiti on their building once we alerted them to it.

Sadly graffiti continues to blight our area with mindless ‘tagging’ the main cause.

We would remind businesses to be cautious about who they sell spray paint to, and if anyone sees someone defacing public or private property please report it with a description to the police.

Graffiti on green communications boxes is much harder to get the utility companies to remove - see below- and the anti-ULEZ graffiti is adding to the run-down look of our area. We appreciate the strong feelings against ULEZ, but blighting our town with yet more graffiti is not an effective way to make the case and is criminal damage.

Requiring businesses to maintain their property

Your Councillors have got very frustrated with the state of the green communication boxes that proliferate on our streets and pavements.

Their services are essential, but the boxes, when damaged, can attract vandalism and graffiti making them unsightly. Despite our efforts to get the companies to tidy up these boxes no action has been taken. We have therefore called on the council to hold these companies to account by serving a s81 notice on them which requires them to maintain their property.

At the request of the police we have also asked for a notice to be served on the owners of the flats above Barclays and WHSmith to address the dereliction of the entranceway between the shops. The dreadful state of the stairs here makes it an attractor for criminal activities and street drinking and makes the area feel unsafe.

Motorcycle delivery drivers

We have received complaints about motorcycle delivery drivers parking on the pavement in Wallington town centre.

The Council and police are enforcing the relevant laws and the drivers now seem to be parking more responsibly.

Registered vehicles (mopeds and motorcycles) typically belonging to delivery people given the number of food establishments (which offer delivery) in Wallington District Centre and the convenience and popularity of home food delivery it is likely a continuation of their presence will be seen.

These vehicles are permitted to use the loading and goods vehicle only loading bays to facilitate their deliveries.

Civil Enforcement Officers, in the regular patrols, do ask vehicles to move on, if on the pavement and issue Penalty Charge Notices, when able and appropriate, and will continue to do so.

Dangerous driving of these mopeds/motorcycles, such as driving on the pavement, can be enforced by the Police, if witnessed by them.

Do alert us if the problem returns and we can request some targeted enforcement.

Report issues in your area

Your local Councillors -- Muhammad, Sam and Jayne -- report issues they see as they are out and about in the ward including litter, flytipping, damaged signs, faulty crossings, graffiti, raised paving slabs, faded yellow lines etc.

You can help too by reporting issues via the council website here. The Report an Issue form gets sent directly to the service meaning a quicker response than phoning the Council.