Putting a skip outside your house

[worldwiser]

I'm sure hundreds of people on here have faced this: The skip company applies for a licence which says the skip must be placed exactly outside your house and nowhere else. But the licence offers no right to use the space in which it must be located. Anywhere else in London, you could have a bay suspended for the day but in good old East Dulwich, that's not an option.

I often see wheeliebins, planks, tape and cones being used in ED to block off space but the Met tell me this is illegal and I would be prosecuted. Can I ask, has anyone been prosecuted for this? Or faced any unpleasantness from drivers? And how much working space do you need for a builder's skip?

[Siduhe]

Is this just for the day before the skip arrives to keep the space free? No direct experience but we recently had a similar issue with needing space for a removals van. A few friendly discussions with the neighbours that we would be marking off the space over a day or so and a note on the bins explaining why and for how long we needed to keep the space clear did the trick. No unpleasantness and certainly no prosecution - for a day or so of blocking a space I can't believe anyone would do that. In fact one of our neighbours moved his car to keep the space clear for us a couple of days before, so maybe you could try something like that - get friendly people to park in the space you need and then move those cars when the skip arrives?

[goldilocks]

Agree with above - if you block the space for a week in advance then people might not be happy - the day or so before - less so. Also agree that putting a notice on the bins stating when the skip is arriving helps - stops people thinking that its someone just trying to reserve a parking space!

Think that the problem with the answer you got from the Met was that you asked and that is the 'official line' but the reality is somewhat different!

[worldwiser]

Appreciate your suggestions. Thing is, only doing it from the day before puts a huge amount of pressure on because you can't cancel the skip at that point. So a skip is coming whether you like it or not and the goodwill of people isn't guaranteed. I know most of my immediate neighbours and rarely are they able to park so close to home. Cars on our street regularly go unmoved for days and the skip companies charge you whether or not a delivery is made. Meantime, the time on the licence you've just paid for starts ticking.

What I'm probably going to have to do is find a couple of friends' cars and try and get them to park outside in the week leading up. It is somewhat hilarious that this is the kind of thing one has to do!

[KalamityKel]

Bog standard proceedure since the beginning of time... get wiv it man!

[bonaome]

You should only need the space of one car as the skips can come off sideways. So just park your car in the spot and leave it there until the skip arrives. That's what we've done in the past plus had a chat with the neighbours - I think last time we had a skip (we've had a few!!) neighbour a few doors down parked outside our place and was happy to move the car when the skip arrived. You should be fine

[Sue]

The people you are hiring the skip from are doing this every day - have you asked their advice?

I've only ever had one skip and I left my own car outside my house for a few days if memory serves. But then I seldom use the car - I can see that isn't a solution if you need the car!

[Grok]

Op, just Ask James! He is a councellor of southwark.

[Earl Aelfheah]

I talked to my neighbour, asked them to move their car the night before. Moved mine too. Then put a couple of wheelie bins with a note sellotaped to them saying 'skip coming in the morning - apologies for any inconvenience'. I was a bit stressed by it as we live opposite a school and there is pressure on parking during the days. was expecting someone to just move the bins and park in the space, but it didn't happen. People i think appreciate that sometimes there is a genuine need to keep a space free for stuff like this.

[Chief]

The bigger problem that is blighting East Dulwich is skips that remain outside houses for months - while major works take place, delivery lorries constantly blocking the roads, noise from early to late, rubbish blowing around from the skip. There are some serial offenders!

[Sue]

Chief Wrote:

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> The bigger problem that is blighting East Dulwich

> is skips that remain outside houses for months -

> while major works take place, delivery lorries

> constantly blocking the roads, noise from early to

> late, rubbish blowing around from the skip. There

> are some serial offenders!

Yeh, well, once every house has its loft conversion, kitchen extension and basement with movie theatre and swimming pool, I guess the skips will finally disappear.

Until fashion changes and the houses are converted back to their original Victorian state again :))

[worldwiser]

Thanks again for replies. We'll hopefully be done within 2 weeks and, aside from the skip company, there won't be any lorries. Not to shoot myself in the foot, but Southwark don't do themselves any favours by charging so little for the licence. Only 66 quid per month! Most councils charge by the day (eg Islington 57/day + 85) thus providing a powerful incentive to get the waste ready and picked up very quickly.

Another major benefit if any more were needed from having a CPZ!! (cue howls of disapproval)

[christgill]

worldwiser Wrote:

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> ... Most councils charge by the day (eg Islington 57/day + 85) ...

That seemed so exorbitant that I just had to check!

Islington charge ?85 per month. The ?57 per day charge only applies to skips in parking bays, presumably to recompense the Council for the loss of parking revenue.

[worldwiser]

Indeed. And in the entire borough of Islington there's only one 300m stretch of road where that wouldn't apply.

[christgill]

worldwiser Wrote:

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> Indeed. And in the entire borough of Islington there's only one 300m stretch of road where that wouldn't apply.

Again, not being sure if that was tongue-in-cheek, I did some research...

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/304539/response/743279/attach/html/3/Arnold%20Price%20FOI%20490138.pdf.html

... so where's the 300m stretch of road? Apparently even Islington Council don't know about it!

[worldwiser]

Interesting. It's been some years since we lived up there but Parkhurst Rd always used to have a stretch of unrestricted parking. I know this because there was a short period when I had to find parking for a second car and Islington refuses second parking permits.

Still don't understand why ED is such a unique and special case that it's this tiny island of free parking in a sea of CPZs all around it. But then I risk going off my own thread. Which I suppose we've already done.

[mikeb]

@ worldwiser - probably just better to accept that ED is indeed a unique and special place rather than re-opening the CPZ thread ...

[pecksniff]

Chief Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The bigger problem that is blighting East Dulwich

> is skips that remain outside houses for months -

> while major works take place, delivery lorries

> constantly blocking the roads, noise from early to

> late, rubbish blowing around from the skip. There

> are some serial offenders!

My neighbour being one of those who has had a skip , building materials and wheelie bins( in order to park contractors van) in place since August thus effectively taking up 3 parking spaces. However I have no qualms about moving the wheelie bins if there are no other parking spaces available.

[intexasatthe moment]

Inclined to agree .

Have noticed a new fashion for a scaffolding pole barrier to be placed in the road to reserve space . I do understand that builders need deliveries and skips, but reserving space needs to consider neighbours parking .And not left in place for days when there is no building activity .

Builders don't own strips of the road anymore than car owners .

[worldwiser]

Perhaps, but when you've purchased a licence to place the skip outside your house you are at least buying priority. You can park your car anywhere for free but that's not true of a skip.