Issue - meetings

The Committee received a report from the Operations Manager – Community Engagement and Enforcement.

The report outlined an overview of City Council Refuse and Environment and Streets and Open Spaces service activity relating to the geographical area served by the South Area Committee.  The report identified the reactive and proactive service actions undertaken in the previous quarter, including the requested priority targets, and reported back on the recommended issues and associated actions. It also included key officer contacts for the reporting of waste and refuse and public realm issues.

The Committee discussed the following issues:

       i.          Vehicles that were for sale in the Fulbourn Road layby had now moved to the grass area near Kwikfit.

     ii.          Bins kept on the street in Anstey Way due to lack of storage area. Some properties were owned by the Council and some were in private ownership.

ACTION: Wendy Young undertook to ask Sandra Farmer to liaise with Councillor Avery regarding bin storage space for City Homes properties on Anstey Way. Bins are currently left on the pavement.

   iii.          Travellers arrived at Cherry Hinton Recreation Ground on Sunday July 16th. On Monday 17^th July officers from Streets and Open Spaces undertook initial Welfare Assessments on the site and instructed the City Council’s legal team to start proceedings to re-possess the land. This process had a number of stages to obtain a court order for the eviction and usually took between 10 and 14 days.

   iv.          Welcomed discarded cigarette butt enforcement action.

    v.          The grass cutting operative continued to run over litter (such as bottles) left on the grass in Mowbray Road rather than removing them before cutting. Residents were concerned about resulting safety issues and blocked drains.

   vi.          Litter dumped in the Hartington Grove church gate.

 vii.          Gunhild Way:

a.    Litter dropped by parents on the way to Queen Emma School.

b.    Obstacles put on grass verges to prevent parking. These are sometime run over by lawn mowers.

viii.          Litter dropped by Netherhall and St Bede pupils.

   ix.          Graffiti and litter on Holbrook Road near Homerton Children Centre.

    x.          Suggestions for locations for additional bins in Trumpington would be forwarded to the Operations Manager post meeting.

In response to Members’ questions the Operations Manager – Community Engagement and Enforcement said the following:

       i.          Would consider the idea for signs to say “(name) caught here” in different locations where cigarette butts had been discarded. Similar in principle to the “we’re watching you” anti-dog fouling signs.

     ii.          Would liaise with Anglian Water where drains were blocked by detritus from roads.

   iii.          The enforcement team would not remove stones from Gunhild Way verges, but would report them to the County Council as the responsibility for obstructions on the public highway was within their remit and not the City Council. 

   iv.          There was no single point where people could collect lost bikes from. Options were being reviewed for organisations to better share data on lost property they had collected.

Following discussion, Members unanimously resolved to approve priorities for action as amended above.