Co-opted Geoff Clark and Paul Wren (Tenants Panel Representatives) ALSO H.Bromley (Executive Member Environment)

Transcription

1 - 1 - WELWYN HATFIELD COUNCIL Minutes of a meeting of the ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held on Monday at 7.30pm at Campus West, Welwyn Garden City, Herts. PRESENT: Councillors S.Johnston (Chairman) M.Birleson, J.Cragg, C.Croft, D.Hughes, B.Olawoyin, L.Sparks, C.Storer, K.Thorpe Co-opted Members Geoff Clark and Paul Wren (Tenants Panel Representatives) ALSO PRESENT: OFFICIALS PRESENT: H.Bromley (Executive Member Environment) Director, Finance and Operations (P.Kettle) Head of Public Health and Protection (N.Long) Head of Environment (D.Reyner) Cemetery and Playground Services Team Leader (R.Walsh) Parking Services Team Leader (V.Hatfield) Partnerships and Community Safety Manager (T.Beyer) Senior Performance and Strategy Officer (G.Crawford) Committee Manager (R.Burbidge) Andrew Carr (Finesse Leisure Partnership) Emily Nichols (Finesse Leisure Partnership) Phil Beatty (Serco) George Saba (Serco) Grahame Rose (CP Plus) APOLOGIES: An apology for absence was received from Councillor Mabbott. The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Councillor Bromley (as Executive Member Environment) and thanked her for her services as the previous Chairman of the Committee. 28. MINUTES: That the minutes of the meeting of 2 September 2013 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

2 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Councillor Sparks declared a non-pecuniary interest in respect of items on the agenda as appropriate by virtue of being an employee of the Environment Agency. 30. USE OF CCTV TO DETER OR DETECT FLY TIPPING: The Committee considered the report of the Director (Strategy and Development) on the potential for closed-circuit television to help the Council s efforts to deter or detect fly tipping. Members noted that the report outlined the available technology, legal limitations on its use, and an indication of how other Councils used CCTV for this purpose. Members attention was also drawn to an extract from guidance prepared by Keep Britain Tidy which was set out as an appendix to the report and while technology had improved since the document was prepared in 2003, the guidance contained sound advice on the factors to consider before embarking on surveillance as part of the response to fly-tipping. Some Members expressed concern that the report did not sufficiently address the environmental and visual damage of fly tips and the reputational damage suffered by the Council from failing to act. It was pointed out that covert surveillance would almost always require authorisation under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) and while many Councils claimed to use covert CCTV it appeared that the onerous requirements under RIPA had caused some Councils to withdraw from using it. It was also emphasised that while recent advances meant that several cameras and separate detectors could be used to stake out a vulnerable location relatively cheaply, more significant costs would lie in the human resources needed to make good use of any evidence obtained. None of this activity or equipment was within the scope of the Council s agreement with St Albans Council for the street camera network (which had never been used for any purpose requiring RIPA) and although it was understood that such ad hoc site visits could be arranged with the shared service provider (Videcom Security Ltd.) firm estimates of costs or quotes would need to be sought. Securing RIPA authorisation from a magistrate would also be required and that would be the responsibility of the Council s Environment Officers and the Council s named RIPA authorisers, not the contractor. The Committee having noted the practical difficulties and that increased enforcement and use of CCTV would incur additional staffing costs and/or a reduction in other Environment Services and Street Warden activities to compensate for changes in work priorities, it was then proposed, seconded and (5 voting for and 4 against) (1) That the role of existing public space cameras and the multi-

3 - 3 - agency opportunities for reducing fly-tipping be noted. (2) That the new technology described, the indicative costs of typical equipment, the legal strictures on its use, and the risks outlined in the report of the Director (Strategy and Development) be noted. (3) That in considering the potential use of surveillance the specialist advice in the Appendix to report of the Director (Strategy and Development) be noted. (4) That the principles and practicability of the Council using covert CCTV to deter or detect fly-tipping be noted. (5) That the Environment team should not at this time investigate the resourcing implications nor prepare a business case for introducing covert CCTV equipment as part of its operations against fly-tipping. 31. PERFORMANCE INDICATOR REPORT - ENVIRONMENT: The Committee received a report from the Director (Strategy and Development) together with a presentation which provided them with performance indicator (PI) data collected for those services that fell within its remit. It provided quarter 2 performance data for , along with comparative information with earlier years. The Senior Performance and Strategy Officer advised that the figure of 33% shown in Performance Indicator 247 Planning Appeals Allowed should read 25%. With regard to Performance Indicators 191 Residual Household Waste per Household; 192 Percentage of Household Waste sent for Reuse, Recycling and Composting; and 215 Residual Household Waste to Landfill per Head there had been impacts on targets for these indicators because of the issues that emerged from changes to the recycling of cardboard but that it was hoped that performance would now improve in future quarters. 32. SERCO 2 ND QUARTER/ANNUAL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION PERFORMANCE 2013/14: The Committee received a report from the Director (Finance and Operations) and received a presentation from Phil Beatty and George Saba of Serco which informed them of performance against agreed targets for examining customer satisfaction performance against corresponding periods in previous years for Street Scene operations which included Waste, Cleansing and Grounds Maintenance Services. Members noted that performance information and customer contract data collated by the Council s Client Team had also been included within the Serco presentation.

4 - 4 - Members were advised that following the Alternate Refuse and Recycling Collection (ARRC) these scores recovered well. It was intended to introduce a further column in the tables in future reports indicating the point at which the changes had been made to the presentation used to show when ARRC had been introduced. Geoff Clark (Co-opted Member) commented that with regard to the number of Community Champions remaining much lower than before ARRC, if Serco would let him have further details he would raise the matter at a forthcoming Tenants Panel meeting to try to improve recruitment. The Chairman congratulated Serco on their recent Charity Bulky Collection which had raised 390 for Whizz Kids and having thanked them for their presentation it was 33. CP PLUS 2 ND QUARTER PERFORMANCE RESULTS 2013/14: The Committee received a report from the Director (Finance and Operations) and received a presentation from Grahame Rose of CP Plus which provided them with details of the performance for the 2 nd Quarter of against the agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within the contract. Members having noted that CP Plus had achieved six of the eight KPIs for the 2 nd Quarter , it was reported that the two KPIs which CP Plus did not achieve were under complaints and information provided to the Council. Complaints had not achieved the target for the quarter due to two technical issues which had led to a number of customers receiving parking charge notices in error. This happened in Campus West on the 13 July 2013 and Osborn Way on the 29 July All parking charge notices were cancelled and apologies sent to the affected parties. With regard to information provided to the council, a number of reports were requested each month, some financial and some statistical. Recently, CP Plus had made some operational changes and during this transition period a number of reports had needed to be created. This had taken some time for them to perfect but the Parking Service was confident moving forward that this KPI would be achieved. In response to a question about the submission of appeals it was confirmed that these had to be submitted in written form, either through the post or by way of .

5 FINESSE CEMETERY PERFORMANCE MONITORING: The Committee considered the report of the Director (Finance and Operations) and received a presentation from Andrew Carr and Emily Nicholls of Finesse Leisure Partnership on the second quarter performance for 2013/14 in respect of the cemetery contract. Members noted that a monitoring system had been devised from encompassing various elements of information which was collected for each cemetery and was used to measure seasonal specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The average score for the Lawn Cemetery continued to improve specifically with an overall average now 96%. Areas of improvement included flower beds and gardens which were below target achieving 75%. Hatfield Hyde Cemetery maintained an average of 92% with target areas also being flower beds and gardens. St Luke's cemetery had achieved an average score of 96% with St Etheldreada s achieving 98%. Members also noted that these scores remained similar to those in the last report and that the Council s Cemetery Services worked closely with Finesse to address any performance issues. The Committee noted that overall contract performance was good although there were areas which could be improved, specifically the rose gardens at Hatfield Hyde Cemetery. That the report and the presentation be noted. 35. CORPORATE ENFORCEMENT POLICY: The Head of Public Health and Protection reported verbally that work on the corporate enforcement policy was progressing well and that it was intended to bring a draft of the policy before the Committee in January At that meeting, Members would be asked to agree that the policy be released for consultation, ready to bring back to the Committee in March prior to it being sent to Cabinet for approval. As part of the policy development process it had been ascertained that planning enforcement activity would need to be covered by a separate planning enforcement policy and separate work had taken place to produce that policy. Planning enforcement would therefore not be covered by the corporate enforcement policy which would relate to the enforcement work of the following service areas - Public Health and Protection (including environmental health, food

6 - 6 - safety, pollution control, health and safety at work) Licensing Building Control Taxis and private hire Environment Private Sector Housing Debt Recovery Council Tax/non domestic rates (NDR) It was proposed that the policy would cover the following topics Scope Background Enforcement precepts Levels of enforcement action Investigation of offences Formal enforcement options General enforcement matters Monitoring and review Training Complaints Statutory right(s) of appeal Service Specific Appendicies Members noted that the policy was being written having regard to the recently published Regulators Code from Central Government which imposed further specific requests on the Council in connection with its regulatory work.

7 COMMITTEE OVERVIEW WORK PROGRAMME 2013/14: The Committee received the work programme for 2013/14. The Head of Public Health and Protection advised Members that, in addition to the report on the Corporate Enforcement Policy as shown, he was also intending to submit reports to the next meeting of the Committee on 27 January 2014 on Operation Reprise; Food Sampling; and on Legionella (including Legionnaires Disease). Meeting ended 8.45pm RB That, subject to the additions outlined above, the work programme as submitted be agreed.