POLICY COMMISSION MEETING

 

 

Meeting

Policy Commission for Safer Communities

 

Ref

Saf.PC.07/09/06

Date   

7 September 2006

Time

18.00hrs

Place

Committee Room 1, County Hall, Newport

Purpose of meeting

Formal public meeting

 

Attendance   

Commission

Cllrs David Williams (Chair); Vanessa Churchman; Diana Tuson; Heather Humby; Susan Scoccia; Arthur Taylor;

Cabinet

 

Secretariat

Cllr David Pugh, Cllr Alan Wells

Officers

Miss Vanda Niemiec; Miss April West; Mr Rob Owen; Ms Sue Lightfoot

Other Members

 

Stake holders / Experts

Mr Peter Griffiths; Ms Prue Grimshaw; Mr Steve Boswell; Mr Derek Rowell; Mr Andrew Pegram

Apologies

Cllr Barry Abraham; Cllr Henry Adams

Agenda Items

 

1.      To agree the evidence arising at the meeting held on 08/08/06 (Paper A)  

The notes of the previous meeting were agreed.

 

2.      Declarations of interest

 

 There were no declarations of interest.

 

 

3.      To receive evidence on the Corporate Enforcement enquiry (Saf 4.05)

 

a) Mrs Sue Lightfoot,

Acting Director of Safer Communities, Isle of Wight Council, (IWC)

1.             A video was shown from the London Borough of Enfield.

2.             The Enviro Crime Unit was set up in 2003 to address residents concerns about the increasing amount of environmental disorder.

3.             They have dealt with 5000 abandoned vehicles and have delegated authority from the DVLA to remove vehicles.

4.             Rubbish bags are searched by officers, when collection day is not imminent, to identify those responsible for dumping rubbish in public areas.

5.             Members of the public use one council number to report environmental crime issues, similar to the Single Non Emergency Number (SNEN) of 101, used by the IW Council, for reporting anti-social behaviour, dog fouling etc.

 

3b) Paper AA

Peter Griffiths, Acting Head of Housing,

 (IWC)

 

6.             The staff in Housing are pro-active in their communication with other departments, reporting incidents when they are identified.

7.             There are 7 officers dealing with enforcement as well as other housing functions, including Licensing, empty properties, housing assistance, disabled facilities grants and the management of the ex-SWBC sewers.

8.             The Housing section are responsible for dealing with hazards for all IW domestic properties.

9.             Communication could be improved between departments, with the use of IT, to report matters that may need attention.

3d) Paper B

Prue Grimshaw, Head of Children & Family Services, (IWC)

 

10.         The Children’s Trust is to be established in October 2006, to commission services from Health, Education, Social Services etc, to provide the best services for children.

11.         Enforcement activity in respect of Children’s Services is governed by a wealth of legislation.

12.         Issues that relate to the welfare of children are sensitive matters that require specialist knowledge.

13.         The relocation of enforcement activities could negatively impact upon the welfare of children, in referring them to different officers to deal with their concerns.  The current approach is to provide consistency in their contact with social workers, educational psychologists etc.

14.         Empowerment and enforcement are closely related and are dealt with on a daily basis. It is difficult to split the enforcement role from the other roles of those professionals who deal with children and young people.

 

3e) Paper C

Steve Boswell, Operational Manager, Engineering Services, (IWC)

 

Derek Rowell,

Strategic Director of Environment Services, (IWC)

 

15.           A team of superintendents cover a range of activities, including enforcement.

16.           Their role is to issue enforcement notices for littering, abandoned vehicles, etc. They do not carry out any further enforcement role.

17.           The only dedicated enforcement officer is the abandoned vehicle officer.

18.           This officer works closely with the police and reports those vehicles that are identified as abandoned.  Powers have recently been changed to enable immediate disposal of a vehicle if it is deemed to be unsafe.

19.           If superintendents identify problems relating to other service areas, they pass details to the appropriate department.

20.           They concentrate on dealing with the problem, rather than carry out enforcement activity.  For example, by removing the litter or abandoned vehicle.

21.           There is a multi-agency protocol with the Environment Agency, amongst others, to support each other.  For example, beach inspectors remain under the management of Engineering Services, but receive training through the ACSO network, provided by the Safer Communities directorate.

22.           A central unit could assist in providing support to the enforcement activity carried out by Engineering Services.

23.           The Single Non Emergency Number (SNEN) utilises CRM to ensure that reports get directed to the relevant department.

24.           The new directorate of Environment and Neighbourhoods demonstrates the Council’s commitment to maintaining and improving the local environment.

25.           There are no dedicated enforcement officers in this section, but inspectors will be supporting a neighbourhood approach.

26.           It is the responsibility of all officers, to identify and report matters to the appropriate member of staff or department in respect of potential enforcement activity.

3f)

Mr Andrew Pegram,

Development Control Manager, Planning Section (IWC)

27.         It is difficult to be pro-active in the identification of potential enforcement activity, as there is no breach of planning control until the breach has occurred.

28.         Individual officers are responsible for discharging conditions on planning permissions.

29.         A Commencement Officer has been recruited to deal with large scale developments and monitor compliance.

30.         Building control applications are monitored to ensure conditions are enforced.

31.         Where unauthorised development has been carried out, a retrospective planning application can be applied for.  This is not an offence, as such.

32.         Most enforcement activity is re-active rather than pro-active due to limited resources. 

 

Additional contributions by

Mr Rob Owen,

Head of Consumer Protection, (IWC)

 

Cllr Vanessa Churchman

 

 

 

33.           We have received a report from Fareham Borough Council on how they manage corporate enforcement. 

 

34.           Croydon Borough Council have improved their enforcement activities by re-organising the service areas to co-locate some of their functions. 

Action

1. Obtain evidence from Croydon Borough Council.

 

 

2. Finalise arrangements for workshop planned for 17th October 2006.

 

 

Rob Owen

 

 

 

Rob Owen, Overview and Scrutiny Team, Sue Lightfoot