Council officer and scruting secretary William Benson said: “Following a four-month investigation into abandoned vehicles in Maidstone, councillors were shocked to hear from the police, fire brigade and others about the impact of the problem on crime, arson, local communities and the local economy.
“Following an examination of initiatives undertaken elsewhere in the country, the Committee has produced a comprehensive report setting out the nature and causes of the problem and proposed solutions to address it. The Committee firmly believes that a combination of short-term and long-term proposals contained within the report will go some way to alleviating the problem in the Maidstone Borough. The Report also makes a number of suggestions for a joined-up response across Kent and for action by central government.”
The following are extracts from the report, which can be seen in full at maidstone
The Growth in the Problem
The figures tell their own story: Last year, more than 1,300 vehicles were removed from the streets of the Borough – a seven-fold increase in three years. Over one thousand vehicles were removed in the first four months of this year alone. Across Kent as a whole, more than 12,000 vehicles were removed; whilst no up to date figures are available, it seems likely that more than half a million vehicles are abandoned nationally. We have heard no evidence that the exponential growth in the problem will abate in the near future; rather it seems likely that the numbers of vehicles abandoned in the borough will continue to grow unless urgent action is taken to tackle the issue.
Costs
The growing number of abandoned vehicles is having a significant impact on the budgets of councils, the police and the fire brigade. Last year, KCC spent 720,000 on the collection, storage and disposal of abandoned vehicles; the set budget had been 388,000. This year, expenditure is likely to rise to more than 1 million, with expenditure rising to as much as 2 million by 2003–04. The total cost of abandoned vehicles to all the agencies involved across Kent as a whole is likely to be in excess of 10 million a year – enough to fund the Kent Air Ambulance for ten years.
Impact on the Police and Links with Crime
The Committee has heard that some 30% of the calls made to the police are associated with abandoned vehicles and that, across Kent, the problem costs the police in excess of 500,000 in patrol time alone. The Committee has heard that untaxed and abandoned vehicles are closely associated with criminal offences such as driving without insurance, drink driving, burglary and theft from motor vehicles. Any action to clamp down on abandoned vehicles will have a commensurate impact on criminals.
Impact on the Fire Brigade and Links with Arson
The Fire Brigade told the Committee that there had been a 400 per cent increase in the number of abandoned vehicle fires in the Maidstone area in the last three years. Last year Kent Fire Brigade attended 3,543 vehicle fires – an 11 per cent increase on the previous year and a 57 per cent increase over the past four years. In Kent over 21,000 staff
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