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 held on 18 November 2020 were taken as read and approved as a correct record.

The Director of Environment and Commercial Services, the Head of Environment Services and the Operations Manager Recycling and Education will be in attendance at the meeting to provide the Panel with an overview of Pest Control services provided by Middlesbrough Council

Recommendation: for the Panel to determine whether further information is required

The Director of Environment and Community Services, the Head of Environment Services and the Operations Manager Recycling and Education were in attendance at the meeting to provide an overview of Middlesbrough Council's Pest Control Services.

During the first UK lockdown in March 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) had reported a 51% increase in rodent activity. Following the second lockdown in October and November 2020, this increased to 78% and Pest Control companies saw a rise in requests for services for vermin control.

There were a number of factors that contributed to the rises, one of which was that milder winters were leading to increases in rodent populations. Another issue related to the lockdown was that people were spending more time at home and in their gardens, and were putting more food out for birds and other wildlife, which in turn attracted vermin. Another issue was fly tipping, and bag slashing in back alleys. In Middlesbrough, this was particularly prevalent in the Central, Newport and North Ormesby Wards. Household rubbish disposed of in bin bags created a natural food source for rodents. Whilst there was a programme of baiting in the alleys, discarded food sources such as pizza boxes were far more attractive to the rodents than poisonous bait.

The Council currently offered pest control services in the following areas:

-       Back Alleys.

-       Council owned open spaces.

-       Council Buildings

-       Commercial Contracts.

-       Thirteen Housing.

There were four pest control operatives: three permanent full time employees and one agency worker. Seven Area Care staff were trained in rodent control and eleven additional staff were currently undertaking online pest control training. Of these eleven staff, two worked in

The rodent control training was a one-day training course which staff completed. The pest control operatives had completed a Level 2 course, which enabled them to carry out a wider range of activities. The aim was to build up resilience across departments and enable the Level 2 qualified pest control operatives to focus on the back alleys, contracts, and council owned spaces, while the area care staff could provide a pest control service to Council buildings and cemeteries.

The intention was to continue identifying and training additional members of staff from the back alley cleansing and area care teams, as well as building managers, in rodent control. One of the current Pest Control technicians would also be upskilled to complete the Level 2 Pest Control qualification to build additional resilience in the team. The Level 2 training took approximately four to six weeks to complete on a day release basis.

The Council had 70 commercial contracts across Middlesbrough which generated approximately £43K per annum. The number of commercial contracts had decreased this year due to a number of businesses ceasing trading or opting to request pest control as and when needed, rather than having a regular contract. The Council had worked with businesses during the Coronavirus Pandemic to assist where possible, by delaying payments if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20/29

The Chair will provide a verbal update on matters considered at the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 20 November and 3 December 2020

The Vice Chair provided a verbal update on items considered at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meetings held on 20 November and 3 December 2020.

The next meeting of the Economic Development, Environment and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel would be held at 10.30 am on Wednesday 20 January 2021.

Transporter Bridge

The Chair referred to the audit of the Tees Transporter Bridge which was due to be considered at a forthcoming meeting of the Corporate Affairs and Audit Committee.  It was agreed that a scrutiny review of the Transporter Bridge could be undertaken under the Panel's remit.

AGREED that the Chair would make a formal request to the Overview and Scrutiny Board to add the topic of the Transporter Bridge to the Panel's Work Programme for 2020-2021.