Is Skipton a 'tip'? - district council hits back

Skipton town councillors accused their district council counterparts of ignoring them over calls to tackle flytipping in the town.

But, district councillors have hit back and the chief officer of Skipton Town Council has said the two town councillors David Painter and Winston Feather were not at the meeting at the request of the town council.

Leader of Craven District Council, Richard Foster, has pointed out there has been a drop in flytipping in the last year, and that members of the council’s cleaner neighbourhoods team had been out knocking on doors in problem areas, while litter pick volunteers have reacted with dismay.

Town councillor David Painter told the meeting of the district council that six months had passed since he first raised the issue of rubbish dumped in residential streets but nothing had been done.

Skipton was ‘turning into a slum’ he told Policy Committee members when it should be ‘gold standard’.

He asked if whether he was ‘pushing an elephant up a hill’ and wasting his time, and added he would do everything possible to get noticed, and handed out postcards bearing the words ‘Skipton is not a skip’.

Cllr Painter told the meeting he had just returned from a holiday in France and Belgium and he could not believe how much rubbish there was in the town on his return.

He said: “Skipton is not a skip, we will do every thing we can do to get people in this room to take this matter seriously.

“Skipton is turning into a slum. I’ve been a councillor for two years and I shouldn’t have to give up my time to come here.”

His fellow town councillor Winston Feather, said he agreed with all that Cllr Painter had said, and added that cobbled streets behind terraces off Sackville Street were a ‘sea of bins’ and asked why they could not be kept off the streets.

“I take the point that people have small backyards, but it does not look very good,” he said.

Cllr Carl Lis, who speaks for the council on environment issues, said he was ‘mystified’ by the claims of the councillors and said the council had actually been complimented on the state of Skipton.

Previously, Cllr Painter had called for fixed penalties for householders who left their bins out, but Cllr Lis said that would not be happening, pointing out that people had had enough to cope with in the last 18 months without being threatened with a fine.

He said: “I am somewhat mystified. I would welcome any attempt to improve the situation in Skipton, but I would argue that Skipton is not a tip and has actually been complimented by visitors.

“We won’t issue fixed penalty notices (for leaving out wheelie bins). Our public have had lots to put up with the pandemic and if there was an issue with bins blocking streets, we would ask them to put the bins inside, but not fixed penalties, that simply won’t happen.”

He added: “We have had a lot of compliments, I think our team is doing a very good job.”

Cllr Painter said there were parts of the town where residents dumped items such as fridges and he suggested that the district council issue a ‘newsletter’ to those areas which if done would ‘reduce the problem by 90 per cent’.

Cllr Lis said the council was looking at an education programme involving officers going into schools to talk about the impact of littering.

Cllr Simon Myers said there were eight ward councillors in Skipton and he was sure if there was a problem with littering then they would have brought it up.

Cllr Richard Foster, leader of the council, said he had looked around the back streets of Skipton and ‘on the whole’ he thought the town was in good order.

After the meeting, he said: “Our latest figures show a reduction in fly-tipping in Skipton during 2021 with a drop from 48 incidents in the first quarter of 2020 to 36 in the same period this year.

“Cleaner Neighbourhood Officers have been door knocking in the Middletown area over recent weeks and speaking to residents.

“Extra staff have been deployed and we have been complemented on our performance in keeping the streets clean.

“Our frontline staff have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic and provided an excellent service to our communities.

“We have investigated and cleared more than 200 incidents of fly tipping up to the end of June 2021 and issued five penalty notices.”

Cllr Andy Solloway, who serves on the town and district councils and also North Yorkshire County Council, has been part of a weekly litter-pick in the town carried out by Skipton Step into Action. The last one took place this week as part of the Great Big Green Week.

“We’ve had a small but committed turnout to all the litter picking sessions, and this is not the only one happening in Skipton, there is a group that tidy the towpath and also Friends of Aireville Park,” he said.

Skipton In Bloom and also the Rotary Club do a great deal for the tidiness of the town too. We could have done with more people joining us, but I think we’ve made an impact and we’ve had very positive responses to what we’ve done. True team public spiritedness is alive and well in Skipton.”

Louise Close, chief officer of Skipton Town Council, said: “Skipton Town Council has not discussed or resolved to ask any members to attend any Craven District Council meeting as a representative of the Town Council or to authorise the purchase of any material to be used at a meeting.”