Decision details

To provide an update on the performance of the Street Scene Education and Enforcement Team and agree the priorities of the team going forward.

Following a * report of the Group Manager for Street Scene and Open Spaces, the Environment Policy Development Group had made the following recommendations: that subject to the suggested amendments (as attached):

i)             Fixed Penalty Notices for fly tipping be increased from £200 to £400 and the powers to use CCTV footage be adopted to assist with fly tipping Fixed Penalty Notices and to include this within Council policy (Appendix A).

ii)            The new powers set out in the Littering from Vehicles Regulations (Policy) 2018 be adopted and this be included within the new Council policy (Appendix B).

iii)           Changes to the Council CompulsoryRecycling Policy be adopted following government guidance (Appendix C).

iv)           The amended Abandoned Vehicle (Act) legislation be adopted and included within the Council Policy (Appendix D) which will enable Officers to investigate vehicles within the ‘open air’.

v)            The Stray Dog Policy (Appendix E) be updated and authority sought for the Environment and Enforcement Manager to be the officer appointed under section 149 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to keep the public register which contains the prescribed particulars of, or relating to dogs seized under this section.

The Cabinet Member for the Environment outlined the contents of the report stating that an internal review of the Council’s current policies had been undertaken in line with Government Legislation as new financial penalties had been introduced to help fight against fly-tipping and littering out of windows.  The policies also encouraged more education into disposing of waste.

Consideration was given to each of the individual policies within the document and some amendments were suggested as follows:

·         Littering from Vehicles: the deletion of appendices (A and B) on pages 44 and 45 which would allow officers to finalise their own procedures.

·         Abandoned Vehicles:

o   Substitute paragraph 3.1 with the following wording: ‘If a vehicle is abandoned, the following paragraphs explain the steps the Council will take’.

o   Delete footnote 3 and automatically renumber the other footnotes.

o   In paragraph 3.4 in the first line after ‘taxed’ add ‘or untaxed’.

o   Delete the current paragraph at 3.5 and replace with the following wording: ‘If a vehicle is untaxed or it does not have a valid registration plate or visible VIN number and the Council cannot identify the registered keeper from the DVLA, the Council will not issue a 7-day written notice under paragraph 3.4.  Instead it will affix a 24-hour notice of removal of the vehicle’.

o   Delete Appendix A, renumber Appendix B to Appendix A and change the reference in paragraph 4.1 to refer instead to the new Appendix A.

·         Microchipping Policy and Collar and Tag Procedure – Amend the review date for the policy and procedure to 2030 in line with the Stray Dog Policy

RESOLVED that subject to the amendments above the recommendation of the Policy Development Group be approved.

(Proposed by Cllr L D Taylor and seconded by Cllr Mrs N Woollatt)

Note  *Report previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.

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