Issue - meetings

Following a report of the Group Manager for Street Scene and Open Spaces, the Environment Policy Development Group have 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.

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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To receive a report from the Group Manager of Street Scene and Open Spaces on the updates to the Environment Education and Enforcement Policy

The Group had before it a *report of the Group Manager for Street Scene and Open Spaces detailing changes to the Environment Educational Enforcement Policy.

The Group discussed enforcement and neighbouring authorities who were using independent companies to carry out enforcement action in their areas. The Group discussed the pros and cons of using outside contractors and gave consideration to:

·         Current officer capacity to deal with litter enforcement

·         Costs for employing a contractor to carry out enforcement duties

·         How complaints about fixed penalty notices issued by a contractor would be handled

·         The Enforcement Policies were valid for 10 years so a decision with regard to the use of contractors would need to be settled prior to adopting them

·         The capacity of the current legal team to deal with non-payment of fines issued by contractors

·         The appetite for external companies to run operations in Mid Devon as the opportunity for profit was not guaranteed

·         The possibility of joint arrangements with a neighbouring authority to employ a contractor for enforcement duties

The Group AGREED that officers explore a private company to undertake enforcement duties throughout the District and to investigate working with neighbouring authorities to provide a contracted out service. Members requested that a report be brought back to a future meeting of the Policy Development Group giving clear recommendations on the options available for contracted out enforcement duties and the costs associated with them.

(Proposed by the Chairman)

Fly Tipping Policy

The Group discussed the amended Fly Tipping Policy and considered the following points:

·         Scenarios when prosecution would not be appropriate

·         The maximum fines set by the Government

·         Compliance with the code of prosecutors for prosecutions

·         The need to publicise successful prosecutions

·         The use of mobile CCTV

·         The cost of purchasing mobile CCTV equipment

The Group Manager for Performance, Governance and Data Security explained that a Policy on the use of CCTV, which would include mobile CCTV units, was currently being investigated by officers and that this would be presented to the Community PDG by July.

The Group RECOMMENDED to the Cabinet that:

i)        The amended Fly Tipping Policy (Appendix A) be renewed

ii)        The fixed penalty notices be increased from £200 to £400 for fly tipping

iii)        The powers to use CCTV, subject to investigation into the powers allowed under regulations, to assist with fly tipping fixed penalty notices be authorised

(Proposed by the Chairman)

Littering from Vehicles Policy

The Group discussed the Littering from Vehicles policy and agreed that the delegation of powers to officers was not clear. Members requested that this be updated and the Constitution be amended if required.

The Group RECOMMENDED to the Cabinet that:

iv)        The Littering from Vehicles Regulations 2018 Policy (Appendix B) be adopted subject to confirmation of delegated powers to officers.

(Proposed by the Chairman)

Compulsory Recycling Policy

The Group discussed the Compulsory Recycling Policy and considered the following:

·         The need to tell residents that they had to recycle and what they can recycle

·         Residents living in flats

·         Different district recycling schemes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61