Issue - meetings

To consider the attached report of the Strategic Director (Corporate and Regulatory).

The Strategic Director (Corporate and Regulatory) presented the report on Environmental Enforcement Service Delivery.

The report sought a decision from Cabinet in respect of the future direction of service delivery for litter enforcement across the district. The Cabinet had agreed to bring this service in-house at its meeting held in June 2022 but subsequently the Council had not been unable to fill the positions through direct recruitment. The recommended option (option 2) therefore was to utilise external contractors to provide an environmental enforcement service in relation to litter and dog fouling offences.

There would be a number of educational measures undertaken by the Council in an attempt to discourage the offences occurring in the first place in addition to enforcement actions.

Members considered the report and raised the following points:

·         To welcome the decision as it was felt that external contractors would be able to bring additional resources that the Council had not been able to do, and previous external contractors had been effective.

·         To emphasise the importance of the service covering rural areas and not just urban centres.

·         To question whether after three attempts to utilise external contractors in the past that it was expected it would work this time.

·         To emphasise that enforcement should be proportionate and fair.

·         That in light of past experiences the Council needed to ensure it had a robust Service Level Agreement in place.

In the absence of any dissent, Members endorsed option 2.

To consider the attached report of the Strategic Director (Corporate and Regulatory).

Responsibility: Portfolio Holder for Transport, Licensing and Regulatory Services

It was agreed that external contractors be utilised to provide an environmental enforcement service in relation to litter and dog fouling offences.