Race Storm Brews In East Anglia

A skip company who are facing prosecution from their local council have fought back to claim they are victims of racism.
Councillors have backed a move to start legal proceedings against the firm, whose site they claim is an “eyesore”.
But the owner of Raj Singh UK Ltd, based in Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, thinks they have been unfairly targeted due to their ethnicity. They have also told the council that the demands made are proving difficult to comply with due to the bad weather.
Councillors Bella Saltmarsh and Adrian Miners, who represent the Dogsthorpe ward, are angered by the constant failures by the company to clean up their yard.
“It is such an eyesore,” says Cllr Saltmarsh, “The rubbish is piled high above the fence, and when it gets windy it blows everywhere.”
Cllr Miner added, “The company was warned about its failure to implement approved landscaping that was intended to shield the site and its activities from the public highway.
“It looks like the council is going to prosecute, which is a good thing, because it is a blight on the area at the moment.”
The council served a Breach of Condition Notice on July 26 last year for failing to put approved landscaping into place, and the lack of landscaping represents a significant loss to public amenity.
On August 22, Mr Singh agreed to comply with the condition notice, which stipulated that all works should have been completed by December 1st. The work has yet to be carried out.
But Raj Singh believes the council are being unjust with their behaviour claiming his two other sites in March and Kings Lynn have never had any problems with the councils.
Mr Singh said, “It is frustrating. With the inclement weather we have had over for the past few months it has been impossible to comply with the notice due to the time of year. We can’t plant the foliage they want because it is winter.
Before we moved here, the area was a big magnet for fly-tipping. We have stopped this and provide an outlet for many local businesses to legally dispose of their waste that could be jeopardised by the councillors’ determination, which in our view is misguided.”
“I also feel the council is targeting us because we are the only ethnic minority skip hire and recycling business in the whole of East Anglia.
Councillor Mike Lennox hit back against these allegations, saying, “The city council planning team includes several officers from the Indian sub continent. It is offensive to the council that somebody should suggest this.”
“To date, the works have not been carried out and the city council’s legal team is being asked to prepare papers with a view to bringing a prosecution in the magistrate’s court.”
This article originally appeared in Issue 20 of The Skip magazine