Issue - meetings

During 2018 the Challenge and Improvement Committee had established a member Task and Finish Group to scrutinise the effectiveness of services offered in maintaining rural public realm.

A delivery plan was approved and the work of the task and finish group resulted in a number of recommendations

Members gave consideration to a report which sought to update the Committee on progress of completed actions and on-going work to date following the approval of Public Realm Recommendations by the Committee on 29 January 2019.

Debate ensued and with reference to recommendation 2, namely “Establish a scheme or clear suite of tools/support that WLDC can    provide to parish/town councils to support local action on dog fouling, fly-tipping and littering.”, the Committee as a whole expressed concern at the levels of litter across the District, and sought indication of what enforcement powers were being used to tackle this issue.

In response, Officers advised that enforcement in respect of littering was particularly challenging, the Council did have resources allocated to concentrate on fly-tipping, considered a more serious offence, and outlined the tactics used to apprehend perpetrators.  Enforcement in respect of littering was more challenging particularly in the rural areas, as CCTV coverage was much more limited, so gathering evidence was difficult. Educating residents in respect of littering was considered the more favoured approach.

Members questioned whether dash-cam footage could be used, noting that the police were now making use of evidence captured via such devices.  Did these devices create an opportunity for the Authority to gather evidence and use? 

In response, Officers indicated of the need to be proportionate, whilst dash cams would maybe provide evidence in image form there would still be an amount of investigative work to identify the individual and resource and time required.

Whilst Members concurred that enforcement was a tool which could be used others were more supportive of the need to engender civic pride in communities, to educate and to support local litter pick groups, many of which had been established across the District.

It was suggested that a further action point should be to develop an effective enforcement procedure for Anti-Social Behaviour, including dog fouling, flytipping, littering, and inappropriate parking, which the parishes could make use of.   It was also raised as to whether residents or parish councillors could be trained to undertake enforcement action at a local level, and given powers to issue penalties. Communities needed to feel like they had more power especially as they were people turning out every six to eight weeks picking up litter only to face the same situation within months.  Communities felt like perpetrators were getting away with it.

In response the Chairman outlined the priority fly-tipping was being given by both the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership and the Police and Crime Commissioner.

With reference to the local enforcement of dog fouling West Lindsey did have in place a PSPO to enable enforcement action and in the past Officers from within the enforcement team had provided training to local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37