Issue - meetings

The Enforcement Team Leader introduced the report and made the following comments in response to the Committee’s questions:

      i.         When officers were litter picking and rubbish could be attributed to a business such as McDonalds, this was photographed to build up a portfolio of evidence.

    ii.         Confirmed if individuals were seen littering from a motor vehicle prosecution was taken.

   iii.         If members of the public had evidence of individuals littering from a vehicle these could be sent to the Enforcement Team and they would take the matter further.

  iv.         Advised Petersfield Recreation Ground was opposite Parkside Pool.

    v.         Welcomed the committee’s positive comments on the work that had been done on the city council’s open spaces and in relation to fly tipping.

  vi.         Officers had witnessed groups of individuals using the open spaces and ignoring social distancing (the majority were young people) since lockdown had been lifted. Now the Government had introduced the rule of six people this may have a positive impact. This was not a city council enforcement issue but should be reported to the police.

 vii.         If fines were to be issued by the council in future more information from the Government was required on how this would be done.

viii.         Aware the refuse workers did not lock the bins on Bradmore Lane after the rubbish had been collected. The Resident’s Association had been provided with the contact details of the shared waste services to directly report this each time.

MOP: Will parents be given the fine that you will be given to the teenagers for not social distancing because unless the Government do not give clear rules, I would think people will appeal those fines.

Councillor Massey:

      i.         Currently this was a grey area and only the police could issue fines. The action the police was currently taking was to try and disperse crowds and educate them on the current social distancing rules. If individuals, were underage the parent / carer would also become involved.

    ii.         If those individuals were repeating the behaviour, then it was possible the police would take enforcement action.  

Councillor Moore:

      i.         If the government allocated funding for providing and training COVID marshals, the city council would have the power to give out fixed penalty notices.

    ii.         However, the city council did not issue fixed penalty notices (FPN) for offences that they were able to, to under eighteens.

The Chair of the Committee thanked the Enforcement Team Leader for their report and for the hard work of all the officers that had been undertaken since the last report.