Agenda item

To receive a six month update in relation to enviro-crimes. 

45.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 64-74, which provided Members with an update on the current activities in respect of dealing with enviro-crimes.  Members were asked to consider the progress made against the action plan, attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

45.2           The Head of Community Services explained that, at its meeting on 2 May 2017, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had considered a report regarding the Council’s approach to tackling enviro-crime within the borough and Members had asked that a further update on progress against the action plan be provided in six months’ time.  He made specific reference to the fixed penalty policy for environmental offences which had been approved by the Executive Committee at its meeting on 11 October 2017 and would enable Officers to issue fixed penalty notices for a range of offences including flytipping and littering.  This was part of the wider action around ensuring that Officers had the necessary tools available to take robust action against enviro-crimes.

45.3           A Member drew attention to the action around prosecuting flytipping offenders and advertising the results in the local media and indicated that she had seen a list which suggested that Tewkesbury Borough Council had not made any prosecutions which she understood was not the case.  The Head of Community Services was not sure why this would have been reported as there had been four successful prosecutions in the current financial year with more in progress.  In terms of fixed penalty notices, the Principal Environmental Health Officer advised that 20 had been served during the financial year.  The Chief Executive confirmed that press releases were generally issued for successful prosecutions and it was his understanding that they were circulated to all Members via email, albeit under the guise of a press release which was a slightly different format than they may be used to.  He undertook to look into this following the meeting.  A Member indicated that her Ward had a Parish magazine which could be used to report successful prosecutions and the Head of Community Services undertook to speak to the Communications Team about producing a standard article for Parish Councils to include in their newsletters and magazines.

45.4           In response to a query regarding waste left behind by the gypsy and travelling community, the Head of Community Services confirmed that they could be provided with black bags etc. for waste disposal.  If evidence was found within any material left on site then it may be possible to take action in line with the usual procedures.  Another Member expressed the view that dog fouling continued to be a problem and she suggested that local dog walkers may be willing to volunteer to wear high visibility jackets to act as a deterrent, in a similar way to the volunteer litter pickers.  The Head of Community Services felt this was an excellent idea and he undertook to take it forward outside of the meeting.

45.5           A Member raised concern that there were several gaps in the ‘comments’ section of the action plan which meant that it was difficult to understand what had been achieved and whether the actions were on target.  Particular attention was drawn to the action to ‘finalise governance and HR arrangements for employing the Environmental Warden’ which was ‘green’ despite a comment stating that there were insufficient contributions from Town and Parish Councils to progress at this stage.  The Head of Community Services explained that the report had been written prior to the Town and Parish Council seminar where this had become clear and he indicated that the action would be removed from the plan. 

45.6           Having considered the information provided, it was

RESOLVED          That progress against the Enviro-Crimes Action Plan be NOTED.