Agenda item

To consider a report of the Group Manager for Street Scene and Open Spaces providing an update to current policies and to adopt new policies.  This will enable the Street Scene Education & EnforcementTeam to educate and enforce, by making use of the new powers available to them.

The Group had before it a * report of the Group Manager for Street Scene and Open Spaces updating the current policies and requesting that new policies be adopted.

The Chairman walked through the various policies and consideration was given to:

Fly Tipping Policy

·         CCTV coverage of affected areas with the Group Manager for Corporate Property and Commercial Assets and the Head of Legal informing the meeting that an action plan was being developed and would be reported to the Community Policy Development Group. Some of the offences would not come under RIPA and therefore a parallel system to balance data protection and human rights issues had to be developed. The phrasing within the policy with regard to ‘may’ and ‘could’ rather than ‘would’ was explained as a discretionary element always had to be included.  The number of prosecutions was also discussed and it was generally agreed that the increase in fines should be encouraged.  Delegated powers for District Officers was also discussed.

Littering from Vehicles

·         The following amendments were suggested:

Ø  Paragraph 5.1 remove the  words ‘in writing’ from the 4^th line.

Ø  Under paragraph 9 remove para 9.1 and renumber 9.2 to 9.1. 

Ø  Paragraph 10 – Ground E replace the word ‘court’ with ‘course’

·         Discussion took place with regard to penalty amounts which had previously been set and the definition of littering if stood beside a vehicle.

Compulsory Recycling Policy

·         The following amendment was suggested: the renumbering of paragraph 2 to include 2.3 and 2.3

Abandoned Vehicle Policy

·         The following amendment was suggested: the renumbering of paragraph 1 to include 1.2 instead of 1.2.1

·         Discussion took place with regard to the remit of the authority to remove abandoned vehicles from the highway.

Stray Dog Policy

·         The following amendment was suggested: under 3.8.2 the removal of      ‘his’ from the first bullet point and to be replaced with ‘its’.  Under bullet point 3 the removal of the word ‘and’.

It was therefore:

Recommended to the Cabinet that: subject to the suggested amendments (as listed above):

1)    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).

2)    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).

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

4)    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’.

5)    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.

(Proposed by Cllr W Burke and seconded by Cllr B Holdman)

Note *Report previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.