Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

(a) To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July, 2016

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2016 were signed as a true record subject to Councillor Lakha being added to the list of attendees.

Briefing Note of the Executive Director of Place

The Board considered a briefing note which provided an update on what was being done to address the increase in flytipping and associated concerns from residents and the impact of reduced resources on Streetpride and street cleansing.

The data indicated that there had been an increase in flytipping across the City in the first quarter of the financial year. 

The Board noted that during 2015/16 the regulatory, enforcement and planning services had been fundamentally reviewed in order to deliver over £500k savings annually and increase the coverage of some parts of the service (including Environmental Services) beyond office hours Monday to Friday.  The Briefing Note detailed data in respect of reduced resources on Streetpride and street cleansing, the impact of which was still being assessed and a review was planned to take place over the next two months.

The Board noted measures taken to address the increase in flytipping including:

·  Use of the Community Payback programme funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner

·  Use of survieillance to monitor flytipping hot spots

·  Work with partner agencies

·  Improvements in reporting measures

As part of improving reporting measures, the Board received a presentation about the new “Report it” app which allowed members of the public to report flytipping directly to the service area via computer, tablet or smart phone.

The Board discussed a number of issues around flytipping in terms of reporting, collecting evidence and encouraging behaviour changes to dissuade potential offenders.  The Board also discussed the difficulties faced by those residents who did not have access to online services and who had experienced delays when they had called the Contact Centre to report flytipping.

Following deliberation, the Board agreed the following:

·  To receive a list of the worst affected streets (“hot streets”) and comparable data from other authorities on prosecution numbers.

·  That the “Report It” app be publicised in City Vision together with a summary of flytipping data.

·  To make recommendations to Cabinet Members that street cleansing arrangements should be reviewed to address the littering issue in the inner city Wards and that the Customer Service Centre performance be reviewed to enable better reporting of flytipping.

RESOLVED that the Board:

(a)  Note that £1m of savings had been achieved from the service areas in the previous two years.

(b)  Recommend that the Cabinet Member for City Services review street cleaning arrangements in the inner city wards to address the littering issue.

(c)  Recommend that the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources improve service at the Customer Service Centre to enable better reporting of flytipping.

All outstanding issues have been included in the Work Programme

There were no outstanding items.

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

The Work Programme was noted.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no items of urgent public business.