Agenda item

Report of the Director of Law and Governance and the Director of City Services.

The Board considered a briefing note and presentation from the Director of Law and Governance and the Director of City Services that updated the Board on the Councils fly-tipping performance in 2024-25

Officers explained that following an item at their meeting on 24th of October 2024, the Communities and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Board (4) requested a further progress item on fly-tipping performance.

The presentation given by officers covers the following information:

·  Workload

·  Performance 2024/25

·  Additional Resources

·  Partnership Working

·  Projects

·  Impact of increased fines

·  Future plans for Street Enforcement

·  Ball Hill Pilot

·  Suburban Shopping Sites

Officer particularly noted that due to increased funding from the government they had been able to expand the number of teams they had running and ensure rapid response to any fly-tipping reports. They further emphasised that despite this increased effectiveness they relied on the public reporting incidents, particularly to catch perpetrators. There is an ongoing focus on spreading awareness and ensuring public participation.

In considering the briefing note, the Board questioned officers, received responses, and discussed matters as summarised below:

·  That mandatory courses to explain the legality and impact of fly-tipping would not be a replacement for fines and other enforcement action but instead are to introduce a greater level of proportionality for low level offences as there had been an increase in the amount fined.

·  That if mandatory courses for low level fly-tipping offences are introduced, they will be conducted by existing council officers not contracted out.

·  That selective licensing amount businesses were fined were legislated nationally and by the Cabinet Member and therefore could not be changed by officers.

·  That dummy cameras are not currently being considered by the council as it reduced the overall integrity of the system and could lead to public outcry if crimes were committed in front of dummy cameras.

·  Offenders were not financially able to pay their fines, takin them to court was not usually an efficient way of recouping the costs as it cost the council to prosecute and usually resulted in a conditional discharge.

·  Social housing providers were given 21 days to remove fly tipping following reports and as this was a covered by national legislation.

·  Installing more camera compatible lamp posts was being considered but was costly and time consuming.

·  Although cameras are effective at catching fly tippers and as a deterrent, the limited number and relatively small covered afforded by individual cameras meant waste could be dumped out of view of cameras.

·  That the regulator for social housing is for tenants and not for private landlords, these were instead dealt with and prosecuted by fly-tipping officers.

·  That the installation of LED street lighting could not be used to upgrade lamp posts to be used to install CCTV cameras as this would be prohibitively expensive and the upgrades are primarily on the heads of the lamp posts so would improve CCTV access.

·  Efforts are being made to ensure private land owners are cleaning up and paying for the clean-up of their own waste, but this relies heavily on public reporting.

·  Maps are available online showing private property boundaries, furthermore these boundaries should be listed on homeowner’s leases.

The Education and Communities and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Board (4) Resolved to note the contents of the briefing and had the further recommendations to the Cabinet Member:

1. Continue to work with all social landlords to explore all options to address fly-tipping to the standards of the City Council.
2. That the Board have an opportunity to consider the report on the revised policy prior to its submission to Cabinet.
3. That a similar annual performance report on fly-tipping for 2025/26 be brought to the Board next year.