Agenda and minutes

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting of the Economic Development, Environment and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 6 October 2021 were taken as read and approved as a correct record.

The Director of Environment and Community Services and the Operational Community Service Manager will be in attendance at the meeting to provide an update on Fly Tipping and the Bulky Waste Collection Service.

Recommendation: for Panel to determine whether any further information is required.

The Director of Environment and Community Services and the Operational Community Service Manager were in attendance at the meeting to provide an update on Fly Tipping and the Bulky Waste Collection Service.

The Council had introduced a new approach to fly tipping and this was beginning to show some success.  The new flying squad was trying to get fly tips cleared as quickly as possible, as well as taking more enforcement action.  The Council had been more proactive about asking members of the public to report fly tipping and more CCTV would also be introduced.   Reference was made to a previous campaign by the Council against illegal  fly posting that had been successful and promoted the message that incidents would be dealt with immediately and through the court system if necessary.  

Staffing in the Environmental Neighbourhood Safety Wardens team had been increased in March 2021 and a new approach to tackling fly tipping had been introduced.  The team comprised: a Senior Neighbourhood Safety Environmental Warden, six Environmental Neighbourhood Safety Wardens and five Area Care Operatives.  With the new team, when a job was logged the team would attend, investigate the matter and then clear the fly tipping material at the same time, rather than operatives attending to carry out different elements of the process at different times.

The team were responsible for responding to fly tipping/dumped material, abandoned vehicles, untaxed vehicles, littering, stray dogs, PSPO prohibition breaches, flyposting and illegal advertising and supporting the Warden Service with any requirements.

The Council had a number of informal and formal powers to deal with the issues listed above as follows:

Advice and guidance.  Officers would seek to help individuals, existing and prospective businesses and other organisations to comply with legal obligations by providing information and guidance to help resolve potential problems.

Informal warnings.  Informal warnings in the form of Community Protection Notices, could be issued to reinforce advice and guidance where minor breaches of the law had been discovered but where it was thought inappropriate to take formal action.  Warnings could be verbal or written and follow up visits could be made to ensure that steps had been taken to rectify the problem. Warnings issued in respect of significant breaches of legislation would include timescales within which the breaches should be rectified and would always result in follow up visits to ensure compliance. 

Statutory Notices.  Some legislation provided for the service of statutory notices, which required a person, business or organisation to comply with specific legislation.  The notice would explain what was wrong, what was required to put things right, the timescale in which to put things right, and what would happen if the notice was not complied with. In some circumstances, where a formal notice has been served, there might be a right of appeal against the Council’s decision.  In such cases, an explanation of the method of appeal would be provided at the time the notice was issued.  In general, it was the Council’s policy to either formally caution or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/34

Recommendation: that Panel Members consider, discuss and agree the terms of reference for the review.

Panel Members discussed Terms of Reference for the scrutiny review of Middlesbrough Council’s Green Strategy.

AGREED that the following Terms of Reference were approved:

A)        To examine the Council’s proposals to meet Government targets for greenhouse gas emissions, make Middlesbrough more climate resilient, and minimise the       environmental impact of services.

B)        To investigate in detail the following elements of Middlesbrough Council’s Green Strategy Action Plan: 

•           Land Use and Wildlife.

•           Culture and Community.

•           Sustainable Transport.

C)        To identify and investigate examples of best practice that can be adopted in Middlesbrough.

The date and time of the next meeting was confirmed as Wednesday 1 December 2021 at 10.30 am.

NOTED

The Chair will provide a verbal update on matters considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 20 October 2021.

The Chair provided a verbal update on the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 20 October 2021.

None.