Storm damage

Update 21 February

Our advisers are extremely busy today dealing with urgent and emergency situations following the storms; you can expect to wait longer than usual to be answered. If your call is not urgent, please use this website, to report repairs online or for general enquiries, for example, refuse and recycling, contact a housing officer, and other queries please submit a general enquiry.

Thank you for bearing with us while we speak to those most in need.

Fencing

The recent storms have caused extensive damage to many fences across the borough. Due to the scale of damage and the high numbers of fences affected Stevenage Borough Council are unfortunately unable to repair or replace fencing within our usual repair timeframes. At this time we are only able to offer a make safe service for fences that pose immediate danger to life or property. These fences may simply be taken down to remove any danger.

Unfortunately this will result in a backlog to our repair programme, and for this we apologise and appreciate your continued understanding and patience.

Tenants may erect their own fence within the boundary of their home, provided they seek permission in accordance with the council’s Consent for Alteration or Improvement procedure

Please remember that you need written permission from the Council for any improvements, additions or structural alterations you may wish to undertake to a property.

If tenants choose to source their own fence, at their own cost, they accept sole responsibility for maintaining it.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further information, and thank you for your continued understanding and patience.

Update 18 February

We appreciate your patience and understanding during what has been a very difficult day for the country and our town. From today alone, we have received reports of over 70 fencing issues and 50 trees being down. These numbers along with reports of other damage to homes, garages and commercial property are, sadly, expected to increase over the course of this evening and over the weekend.

Our teams have been out addressing urgent matters across the town throughout the day and will be continuing to undertake repairs and make safe works over the weekend.

Our officers, will of course, be working hard to address all of the related issues as fast as they can but, in light of both the high volumes of calls and the related works which need to be undertaken, it will take us some time to complete them all.

With this in mind, please bear with us in the coming days while we address the reported issues. If you have already kindly reported an issue it will have been logged and you will not need to report it again.

We also take into consideration that the storm will most likely result in a number of insurance claims. Again, we will work through these as fast as we can but ask for your patience and understanding as we do so.

We know the storm is not over yet, so our officers will be working throughout the weekend to tackle urgent issues that arise. We will also keep you informed regarding any related service closures via our social media channels and website.

Contacting us

If you have an emergency you can contact us on 01438 242242

Hertfordshire County Council Highways deal with fallen or dangerous trees on highways. You can report these online or call them on 0300 123 4047.

If you see a fallen or dangerous tree (that isn't on a highway) you can report it using the link below.

See our severe weather page if you need any further information on what you should do.