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Environmental Report - WCAC

Meeting: 16/03/2023 - West Central Area Committee (Item 6)

6 Environmental Report - WCAC pdf icon PDF 3 MB

Minutes:

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

 

The report outlined an overview of the council’s Streets and Open Spaces, Environmental Health and Shared Waste service activity in the Area Committee area over the past six months.

 

In response to Member’s comments the Community Engagement and Enforcement Manager said the following:

      i.         Illegal camping referenced in the report referred to individual or groups who had erected tents to sleep overnight or to stay in a tent. This did not include rough sleepers or pop-up structures for children in the summer.

    ii.         Acknowledged that Fitzroy Street and Burleigh Street were hotspots for littering; the number of fixed penalties for that area was increasing.

   iii.         How often street cleaning occurred was very much dependent on the area. Parked cars did cause an obstruction, therefore main roads were swept more often than a side street with vehicles parked down.

  iv.         The Government set a standard which the Street Cleaning Teams had to work towards. Officers aimed for a minimum of a B grade, minimal mulch, or detritus at the side of the road.

    v.         Officers were currently working on a ‘Bins on Street’ Campaign across the city. The process was restricted as the power to deal with persistent owners of bins (which caused an obstruction) had been decriminalised by the Government ten years ago. A civil notice could be issued to residents who persistently obstructed pathways (yet had an alternative location to store them), this could be followed by a civil penalty.

  vi.         Noted the positive comments regarding the engagement with volunteers.

 vii.         Would pass on the Committee’s thanks and praise for their work; particularly highlighted in Market Ward and the ascension burial ground.