Community News - September 2006 - St Albans City & District Council

Community
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Street cleaning -
just 36p each week
Parks and
open spaces -
just 32p each week
Museums -
just 42p
each week
Refuse - just 62p each week
How much a Band D council tax property pays each week
St Albans City and District Council

Historic St Albans District becoming...
Council offers Great
Cutting the
cost of crime
CCTV cameras in
the district save
the community
around £370,000
a year preventing
burglary,
vandalism, pick
pocketing and
car crime.
How much do you think you pay each
week to have your rubbish collected?
The answer might surprise you.
The bill for refuse collection is just 62p a week for a Band D council tax property.
And you might be surprised to know what good value other District Council services are. The
average household pays just 32p a week towards the cost of maintaining parks and open spaces,
36p a week to keep the district clean, 44p a week for recyling and 42p a week for museums.
The average council tax bill for a Band D property is £1,293 a year, but more than 85.3 per cent
of this, £1,102, goes to Hertfordshire County Council and the Hertfordshire Police Authority. Overall
householders pay an average of just £3.07 per week for a vast range of services provided by St
Albans City and District Council from street cleaning and recycling to leisure centres and planning
services.
In this edition of the Community News, which costs 5.5p per copy, we have highlighted just a
few of the many services that we believe provide outstanding value for money.
Tell us how you want
your money spent
What do you want to see your council tax spent on? We are in the process of
setting the budgets for next year and want to know what your priorities are.
Should we be spending more money on recycling, housing provision, street
cleaning or parks? Or do you want refuse collection, crime reduction, museums
or licensing controls at the top of the list.
Whatever your top priority let us know and we will use your suggestions to
help us set the spending priorities for next year.
E-mail your views to budget@stalbans.gov.uk, or cut out and post the slip
below to Budget Suggestions, Policy and Communications Unit, District
Council Offices, St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Herts AL1 3JE, by Friday 13th
October.
I would focus spending on:
❑ Arts, Theatres and Public Halls
❑ Cleaner District
❑ Community Safety / Crime Reduction
❑ Concessionary Bus Fares and Bus Subsidies and Taxi Vouchers
❑ Grants to Voluntary Organisations
❑ Homelessness
❑ Housing Provision
❑ Licensing
❑ Museums
❑ Parks and Open Spaces
❑ Planning and Building Control
❑ Refuse Collection / Recycling
❑ Sports and Leisure Centres
❑ Tourism
❑ Transport and Parking
❑ Other
Name
Address
Did you know?
Tourism Development costs council taxpayers
£76,000 a year. However, it is estimated that
tourism in the district contributes £150 million
to the local economy and supports 2,400 fulltime
equivalent jobs in the district.
(figures from Cambridge Model report by East of England Tourist Board)
St Albans City and District Council

...Hertfordshire’s premier community
Value for Money
Keeping down the
cost of housing
- The average tenant’s rent is
£68.41 per week
- From rents received we
spend over £3m on repairing
and maintaining the council’s
housing stock of 5,357
properties.
- We are completing a threeyear
kitchen and bathroom
improvement programme and
savings have meant we can
complete more
bathrooms to a
high standard
more quickly
It costs just…
- 55p a week to rent
an allotment -
including water
and car parking
- £1.57 per person
per game of football -
including changing
rooms and showers
- £1.40 for a
child to swim at
Westminster
Lodge (free for
under 5s)
Web transactions cost only 25p
Help cut costs
by logging on
Did you know that you can help us save money depending on the way
you contact us?
There are lots of ways of getting in touch, the most popular being the
telephone. But it is much cheaper to contact us for some services via our
website at www.stalbans.gov.uk, which means we save money while
still providing you with a good service.
Government figures show that it costs councils about £15 to see a
customer in person, £9 to deal with a letter, £2 to deal with a
telephone call, and just 25p via the website.
So next time you want to get in touch, why not log on or phone,
rather than writing or coming to the offices?
Have your say –
register to vote
Registering to vote has never been easier. Electoral registration forms
have gone out to 56,000 households and should be filled in and
returned as soon as possible.
If your details have not changed you can easily renew your registration
by phone or on the internet. Call 0808 161 7660 or log on to www.registeronline.co.uk
and follow the instructions enclosed with the registration
forms.
Many people do not realise that they have to renew their registration
each year. If you pay council tax that does not mean you are registered to
vote, you must still return the form.
If you need help filling in the form call our helpline on 01727 819291 /
819294 / 819545 or email elections@stalbans.gov.uk
Did you know?
The average household pays:
- 32p a week to maintain
parks, open spaces and
commons
- 42p a week for the
museums
- 22p a week towards housing
services like preventing
homelessness and grounds
maintenance (excluding
council house provision)
All this
for free…
Did you know your council tax
pays for all these services that
are FREE for everyone to use?
• Parks are free – make the
most of them, they are the new
green gyms
• Small businesses and schools
can learn about food hygiene
for free
• Entry to the museums is free
• Charities holding fundraising
events can use the parks for
free
• Blue Badge holders can park
free for three hours in council
car parks
• All our play areas, skateboards
parks and the Splash Park are
free to use
• The Tourist Information Centre
has lots of free leaflets
- did you know staff at the
centre can help you book
accommodation, travel and day
trips for free?
• District residents aged 65 or
over, can park free for up to
three hours in any Council car
park provided a discounted
parking permit is clearly
displayed
• Planning officers will give free
informal advice to
householders who want to
extend their homes and / or
carry out work on listed
buildings
• Road closures can be arranged
free of charge for street parties
and festivals
St Albans City and District Council

www.stalbans.gov.uk
Graffiti-busters
on their way
A crackdown on graffiti, flyposting and
chewing gum is about to get under way with
the arrival of a new fast response clean-up van.
As part of our Cleaner District campaign we
are taking delivery of a specially equipped Ford
Transit van that will be used to respond to calls
about graffiti, flyposting and chewing gum.
Since the adoption of our graffiti removal
policy in October last year contractors have been
called out almost every week.
Most graffiti is cleaned up within seven days
with explicit or racial graffiti and flyposting
removed within 48 hours of being reported.
Removing graffiti can cost between £30 and
£100.
Chewing gum leaves unsightly patches that
blights pavements. The gum has to be removed
using high pressure hot and cold water mixed
with chemicals.
A campaign to get people to bin their gum is
planned for later this year.
Almost one year on from its launch the
Cleaner District campaign phoneline is still
running hot.
The team is receiving more than 250 calls a
day from people keen to help us keep the district
clean and tidy by reporting everything from
dumped rubbish to graffiti.
Our museums help to make St Albans a
different and special place, and attract
visitors into the city.
Did you know?
•
the museum staff deal with hundreds of
enquiries on historical and archaeological
matters
•
the museums collect and preserve local
objects and memories for future generations.
Over a year that may include Roman
burials, photographs of the city and
district a hundred years ago, and sound
recordings of people’s childhood
experiences of St Albans
•
the museums help preserve the
special archaeological
heritage of the district,
conducting excavations to
save important sites from
building development or
ploughing, and keeping a
careful watch elsewhere
Top of the issues being reported are flytipping
and litter, but we have also received calls and e-
mails about damaged street furniture, a build up
of leaves and abandoned vehicles.
There are more than 66 reports of flytipping
each month, a problem that is being tackled with
a new mobile surveillance camera set to catch
culprits at flytipping hot spots. It costs the council
around £30,000 a year to clear up flytipping.
Anyone who wants to report an eyesore can
call the hotline number 0845 125 8000 or e-mail
a report and photos to a.cleanerdistrict@
stalbans.gov.uk.
To find out more about the campaign and what
the council is doing to clean up the district visit
the website at www.stalbans.gov.uk and click on
the link to A Cleaner District.
Together we can improve the district
We
Top five calls
Litter
Flytipping
Accumulation of Leaves
• Graffiti
Damaged Street Furniture and Signs
Museums help preserve heritage
It’s a fact
every year over 30,000
children visit the museums as
part of their school studies
Striving for
excellence
aim to provide an excellent service to the
people of our district and take complaints
very seriously.
Each year the council has more than 1 million
individual contacts with the public ranging from
helping people make benefit claims to
investigating planning applications.
Despite this enormous volume, only 116
complaints were received last year – that means
only 0.01 per cent of people were not happy with
their contact with us.
Travel for free
Our successful new scheme
provides elderly and disabled
people with free travel on all
journeys starting or finishing
in Hertfordshire. To date
more than 11,000 people have
been issued with passes.
Love it or hate it?
We welcome anything you have to say about
our services. Please send your comments to
St Albans City and District Council, details
below.
St Albans City & District Council
District Council Offices, St Peter’s Street,
St Albans, Herts AL1 3JE
Switchboard: 01727 866100
Textphone: 01727 819570
Fax: 01727 856745
Website: www.stalbans.gov.uk
E-mail: feedback@stalbans.gov.uk
Opening hours
Mon - Thurs 8.45am-5.15pm,
Friday 8.45am-4.45pm,
Saturday 9.30am-12.30pm (except Bank
Holiday weekends)
EMERGENCY SERVICE
(outside office hours) 01727 811155
Harpenden Town Council Information Point
Town Hall, Leyton Road, Harpenden
Telephone: 01582 768278
Opening hours
Monday-Friday 10am-4pm
Alternative formats
If you would like to receive this newsletter in
an alternative format, such as Braille, or in
another language, please call 01727 819317.
St Albans City and District Council