Skip licence required
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
25/06/2008
With parking in Hammersmith and Fulham an increasing concern for residents and visitors, the council is introducing a new policy in August that will require all skips placed on the public highway to have in place a valid skip licence as well as a separate parking bay suspension.
Residents regularly complain to the council about skips. Quite often, skips that are being used to remove materials from a property are parked outside someone else's home. This can lead to residents and visitors having considerable problems in finding a legal parking space. The new policy is designed to deter skips being kept on the streets for longer than necessary. This policy will also apply to building materials.
Councillor Nick Botterill, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, said: "London as a whole is struggling to cope with the number of cars on our roads and we are no different in Hammersmith & Fulham. The current arrangements for the coordination and enforcement of suspensions and skips have not kept pace with the demand. I believe the changes that will shortly come into force will help to balance the needs of residents wishing to park by their homes with that of contractors employed for home improvements requiring a skip to be placed on the highway.”
To comply with the terms and conditions of a skip licence, applications will only be accepted from the skip hire company. Residents and contractors will no longer be able to apply direct.
This system has been introduced to allow for greater accountability regarding damage liability and to assist in the swift resolution of issues such as overloaded, uncovered or unlit skips.
Enforcement officers will be patrolling the streets of the borough on a regular basis to make sure that all skips are legitimately sited and promptly removed following their licence expiry. The skip licence fee for a month is £56 and a parking bay suspension will cost £26.00 per bay (for 5 metres) per day.
To apply, the skip hire company will need to complete the application form. These are available from Hammersmith Town Hall Extension or Fulham Town Hall. They can also be requested by fax by dialling 020 7371 5678 or can be downloaded from our website.
In order to provide reasonable notice to other road users, the council needs to place signs around the parking bays that are going to be suspended to place the skip. To allow us to do this, there are notice periods for parking bay suspension requests.
The notice period needed to suspend a bay for a skip is 8 days and the notice period will only commence after payment has been received. For any queries regarding the new system please contact the parking bay suspensions team on 020 7371 5678 or the environment department reception team on 020 8753 1081.
