This report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “S”) updates Members on future changes to Street Cleansing, Parks, Environmental Enforcement and Warden Services, providing an update on performance and information on current and planned initiatives.

Recommended –

(1)       Bradford West Area Committee notes and welcomes the information in this report.

(2)       That a further report is presented in 2019 outlining a new             operational   model based on constituency working.

(Damien Fisher – 01274 437146)

(Louise Williams – 01274 431066)

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “S”) updated Members on future changes to Street Cleansing, Parks, Environmental Enforcement and Warden Services, providing an update on performance and information on current and planned initiatives.

The Assistant Director, Neighbourhood and Customer Services was present at the meeting and invited to give a synopsis of the report. He stated that the Street Cleansing Service had to deliver a 25% reduction in its budget for the 2019/20 year. The removal of £1m from the budget meant there had to be a significant redesign of how the service was operated to clean all the essential strategic networks whilst maintaining some elements of devolved area-based working. It was the intention to also merge Street Cleansing with the Parks service to ensure greater efficiency between the two services.

A question and answer session ensued:

·         Was the reduction of the 5 mechanical sweepers only from the Bradford West area or District wide?

o   Overall District wide;

·         The separation of Council Wardens into two distinct roles – civil enforcement and community engagement/environmental enforcement could possibly cause tension between communities and the local authority?

o   The role of a Council Warden was an important role and there were some exceptional Wardens who played an active participation in undertaking their duties within communities and the contents of this report recognised this. Current Wardens that were exceptional in engagement roles would be phased into this title role;

·         How many hours would be allocated to each Ward on a weekly basis for the purpose of cleansing?

o   A model could not be formulated at this present time due to service changes and the high number of employee turnover. In addition, not every Ward was an even split, some covering larger areas;

·         It seemed the reduction of resources being invested into communities for street cleansing was pushing the Council into the opposite direction and the true essence of community cleansing would be ignored as a result?

o   It was about building resilience for the purpose of street cleansing on a strategic basis under a layer of reduction in resources. However other measures would be implemented to compensate the financial loss, such as Smart Bins (once waste is placed inside the bin, the camera and sensors identify its type and place it in one of the smaller bins. Then it compresses the waste so it occupied less space).

·         What plans were in store for the strategy of behavioural change?

o   It was about starting new campaigns in educating people to refrain from littering on the streets and to place into bins. Educating young people in schools would also be crucial in future campaigns;

·         Do you intend to work with local business during campaigns?

o   In order for behavioural change, the service would welcome the opportunity to work alongside businesses in local communities;

·         What would be the role of Community Engagement Officers and Community Development Officers for the future?

o   No role would undertake two roles but differing focused roles. Council Wardens will continue to undertake the same role and the Enforcement role would focus only on enforcement activities. Nevertheless, the service would ensure a high presence of all roles within communities;

·         What work was planned to prevent people from feeding birds by throwing food on grass verges?

o   Again, this will be an educational role, however if people continued with ignoring cleansing activities then enforcement action would come into play;

·         Due to significant financial constraints, had the service considered on the elements of economical educational activities to suit present circumstances such as School newsletters, Facebook, Twitter and other forms?

o   The service intended to open up to all forms of economical educational resources; and,

·         What was a Community Protection Notice (CPN)?

o   A CPN was aimed to prevent unreasonable behaviour that was having a negative impact on the local community's quality of life. Any person aged 16 years or over could be issued with a notice, whether it is an individual or a business, and it will require the behaviour to stop and, if necessary, reasonable steps to be taken to ensure such behaviour would not be repeated in the future. CPNs replace current measures including litter clearing, defacement removal and street litter control notices.

During the discussion, the Committee and officers made the following points:

·         The report lacked precise substance in terms of how the service would be moving forward in assisting with the cleansing needs of communities’;

·         It was about encouraging Wardens to also pursue low level work would result in Enforcement Officers to undertake high intense workloads such as tackling the areas of fly tipping; and,

·         Community neighbourhood work had previously failed due to the Council only focusing on issuing parking tickets and ignoring the true essence of community work.

Resolved –

That the Bradford West Area Committee does not accept Document “S” as presented and requests that officers present a further report in January 2019 with a detailed outline of schemes and how they will specifically relate to the Bradford West area.

ACTION: Strategic Director, Place

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE: Corporate / Regeneration and Environment