Fly-postering and leisure centre takeover teething problems discussed at town forum

Action is being taken against fly-postering in the Royal Borough, Windsor Town Forum heard last night.

Graham Matthews, a street care officer, told the meeting what they are doing to tackle the issue.

With him he brought some of the posters illegally put up which the street care team had taken down, including one from the Royal Borough about road resurfacing.

“Fly postering is illegal,” he said, adding since January 2014 there have been 53 instances in the Royal Borough.

“Under the Highways Act, which is what we use, we don’t have to give notice, we can just get rid of them and dispose of them.”

He added travelling fairs and circuses have a right to put their signs up 14 days before the event and they must be taken down seven days after it closes.

The meeting heard how the Windsor Triathlon was charged more than £500 by the borough to clear markings off the roads and Cities on Ice, who run the seasonal ice rink in Alexandra Gardens, were charged £390 for the removal of their signs.

“I found it outrageous, they made the whole of Windsor look tatty. Absolutely tatty,” said member of the public Helen Price about the posters for the ice rink.

“The whole thing about it is it isn’t only tatty but it is dangerous for drivers.”

She added the company will be ‘laughing all the way to the bank’ about the amount charged by the borough to take the posters down.

Cllr Eileen Quick (Cons, Clewer East) also gave an update on what the borough is doing to iron out teething problems with leisure centre memberships following the Parkwood Leisure take-over of council facilities.

“Somehow some of the memberships that the borough has always protected and safeguarded and will always continue to protect and safeguard, have got left out,” she said.

One of these was the swimming pass for older residents and the other was the SMILE (so much improvement with a little exercise) initiative.

The meeting heard these issues have now been resolved and the borough is subsidising memberships, at a cost to them of about £60,000.

Cllr Quick added the borough is still about £440,000 better off from the deal despite the cost.

“Anything that has happened because of hand over difficulties has been completely unintended and unfortunate,” she added.

Other matters discussed at the meeting held in the Guildhall included:

• Margaret Lenton gave an update on events planned around the borough for the celebration of the 800^th year since the signing of the Magna Carta.
• Feliciano Cirimele, an environmental protection officer at the Royal borough, spoke about the air quality in Windsor and how it is measured.