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COUNCIL SKIPS £1 MILLION IN INCOME

30-07-2007

Birmingham councillor Martin Mullaney reckons the city is "missing a trick" by failing to charge builders for parking skips on the road. He estimates that a proper licensing regime could bring in more than £1 million a year to the local authority's coffers - and improve the environment.

Mullaney has been investigating local authorities around the country, and his research highlights their inconsistent policies.

Around the West Midlands, for example, Sandwell and Wolverhampton don't have any charges for skips, but it costs £10 a day on busy roads in Walsall, and in Dudley it's £18 for 28 days. Residents in Solihull pay too.

Now Mullaney is calling for a review of Birmingham's system, and has launched an inquiry in his role as Chair of the Transportation and Street Services Scrutiny Committee.

“The highways people estimate that there are 250,000 skip movements in Birmingham each year" said Mullaney.

“If we just charged each one of those just £4, that would be £1 million. If we charged £10 like Walsall that would raise £2.5 million.

“That's money we could spend on services or keeping down the Council Tax.

“It would also mean that we didn't have skips blocking up the street for days on end. Builders would have an incentive to get them moved.

“We could also have a proper enforcement regime. At the moment you see some skips piled high with builders' rubbish, which falls into the gutters and clogs up the drains.

“After the recent flooding, that's the last thing we need."

Before Brummies start howling too loudly about another tax, just bear this in mind - parking a skip in Shropshire weighs in at a hefty £35!

Is it time to take a grip on skips and start charging? Do they clog up your street? Or do we pay enough to our local council's already? Leave a comment on our Message Board.