Venue: Committee Room, Council Offices, Urban Road, Kirkby-in-Ashfield
Contact: Lynn Cain
Email: lynn.cain@ashfield.gov.uk
Items
| No. |
Item |
SB.5 |
Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary or Personal Interests and/or Non-Registrable Interests
Minutes:
No declarations of interest
were made.
|
SB.6 |
Minutes  PDF 81 KB
Minutes:
RESOLVED
that the minutes of the meeting
of the Panel held on 21 July 2022, be
received and approved as a
correct record.
|
SB.7 |
Scrutiny Review: Dog Fouling and Littering PDF 103 KB
Minutes:
The Chairman introduced the
report and reminded the Panel that the ‘Dog Fouling and
Littering’ review had been added to the Scrutiny Work
Programme by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in June
2022. Having already held one meeting
to discuss the topic in July 2022, Members were now poised to gain
insight into how littering and dog fouling issues were currently
being addressed within the portfolios of the two Executive Lead
Members in attendance at the meeting.
The Chairman welcomed the
following Members/Officers to the meeting:
·
Robert Docherty (Director of Place and
Communities)
·
Alastair Blunkett (Assistant Director for
Neighbourhoods and Environment)
·
Councillor Helen-Ann Smith (Deputy Leader and
Executive Lead Member for Community Safety and Crime
Reduction)
·
Councillor Samantha Deakin (Executive Lead Member
for Parks, Town Centres and Environmental Services.)
The Panel undertook a
Question/Answer session and deliberated on a series of discussion
topics as follows:
|
Question:
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Response:
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What work is being undertaken
to find a replacement service now the WISE pilot contract has
ended?
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The Council is looking at an
internal solution following the end of the WISE
contract. No Government funding is
available so the Council will be seeing a budget deficit once a new
system is in place. All options are
being considered with one being the intermittent use of agency
staff in hotspot areas (Cllr. Helen-Ann Smith)
|
|
Are we currently still issuing
Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) in hotspot areas?
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Yes, the Community Protection
Officers (CPOs) are still undertaking this enforcement role amongst
a vast array of other duties (Cllr. HAS)
Residents are now reporting
incidences of littering and dog fouling through the ADC online
portal which has proved effective.
Recent and comparative data in respect of this service will be
submitted to the January 2023 meeting for consideration (Alastair
Blunkett)
|
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As the enforcement work
undertaken by WISE was cost neutral to the Council, how can we
replicate the service without additional cost?
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Similar companies to WISE are
on the market and other authorities are providing the service by
covering the cost of agency staff with the income generated from
fines but should an internal solution be preferred, there will
almost inevitably be a growth in budget to cover costs
(AB)
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WISE were very efficient in
their enforcement measures if not somewhat over-zealous at times
and were also cost-neutral to the Council. This is what is needed
to keep the streets/parks clean, and the Council should have
continued with the contract. It is now
going to cost the tax-payer money to provide another
solution.
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A service review of the
Community Protection and Waste Collection Teams are underway at
present and any potential savings/efficiency measures from this
will be examined as part of all the options for a replacement
service going forward. (Robert Docherty)
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What were the issues
surrounding the enforcement methods used by WISE?
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Many complaints were received
that WISE employees were persistently following people (oftentimes
women) and making them feel vulnerable and
uncomfortable. They were failing to
have their camera equipment operational at all times and were
...
view the full minutes text for item SB.7
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