WIREDGOV

Government needs to act now and ensure the country's last chance of tackling scrap metal theft– a Private Member's Bill– is urgently taken forward in this Parliamentary session, council leaders have said. 

Following the recent news that thieves have stolen a metal plaque erected in Warrington in memory of two young boys killed in an IRA bomb attack back in 1993 and this week's seizure of over 40 memorial plaques and statues from a yard in south-west London, Cllr Mehboob Khan, Chair of the Local Government Association's Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: 

"Not including a change in legislation in the recent Queen's Speech was a missed opportunity for government.  Ensuring that a Private Member's Bill makes its way through Parliament is pretty much all the public has to rely on now. 

"This mindless crime is spiralling out of control and has cost councils hundreds of thousands of pounds in recent years having to replace memorial plaques, manhole covers, metal gullies, children's playground equipment, street signs and lead from schools, council offices and crematoriums. 

"To steal at all puts public safety at risk but to take cherished memorial plaques is a heartless and offensive crime. To stoop so low is despicable.  One can only imagine the heartache that these recent thefts have caused family members.  It is truly sickening." 

Metal theft is estimated to cost the economy £700m a year. The LGA, which represents over 370 councils in and , believes that the Scrap Metal Act 1964 needs updating urgently as it currently requires councils to register dealers without the ability to refuse the application.   

The Association wants to see councils being able to impose stricter controls on the way dealers operate, including the installation of CCTV with automatic number plate recognition technology, together with requirements on dealers to keep detailed logs of the identity of people they buy metal from. 

Cllr Khan, continued: 

"Having an annually renewable licence for scrap metal dealers, which could be reviewed at the instigation of the police or licensing authority, and if necessary, revoked where there are significant concerns, would make it much less likely that stolen metal will find its ways into scrap yards. 

"The LGA's lobbying victory in March will ensure that rogue scrap metal dealers can be fined up to £5,000 from October 2012 and that all transactions in scrap yards from then on will be cashless. This is a step in the right direction but government needs to go much further".

 Note to editors:  

The Local Government Association is holding a national event for councils on 15 June entitled "Licensing scrap metal dealers: councils' role in fighting metal theft". A copy of the conference programme is available below. 

This event is open to the media. For accreditation, please contact 0207 664 3333.

 Conference programme