Issue - meetings

Before the Committee received a report from the Community Engagement and Enforcement Manager, a member of the public present put forward the following question:

 

1)        Could you please advise which authority is responsible for street cleaning the pavements, gullies, gutters and railings, including the removal of plastic ties and old posters, in Adams Road, Wilberforce Road, Sylvester Road, Hershel Road in the north Newham area.

There seemed to be a pathway in Burrells Walk where the maintenance fell between the City Council and County Council.  Usually, a resident from the neighbourhood would email for the area to be cleaned.

Residents would also frequently litter pick around Wilberforce and Adams Road as there were several construction developments and college maintenance, which despite the site managers best efforts left a mess.

Asked if there was a list of useful numbers which members of the public could have access to, to report such issues.

 

Councillor Nethsingha advised that Cambridgeshire County Council were responsible for cleaning underground gullies, while the City Council were accountable for the rest of the street cleaning.

 

Councillor Holloway advised that there was a form on the City Council website which members of the public could complete to request street cleaning of a certain area.

Report a street that needs cleaning or clearing - Cambridge City Council

 

The Chair and Community Engagement and Enforcement Manager, advised that at the end of the Environment Report published on the City Council’s website, on the East Area Agenda pages (public report pack), there were details of key contact (including names) and the areas which they covered. It may also be possible for the additional streets or area’s to be added to the regular cleaning schedule.

Agenda for West Central Area Committee on Thursday, 14th September, 2023, 6.30 pm - Cambridge Council

 

 

The Chair thanked the member of the public for attending and moved to the discussion of the Environment report.

 

 

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, highlighting the number of corporate volunteer groups who had delivered quality work throughout the West Central Area Committee.

 

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

      i.         Noted the comments that the waste bins in the city centre had become dirty over the summer season and required cleaning. Would take this as an action point to speak with the relevant teams regarding the bin cleansing programme.

    ii.         Was not aware that the area at the edge of Grantchester Meadows had become a hotspot for litter, fly tipping etc and would highlight with the relevant two Officers who covered the area to include Grantchester Meadows as part of their patrol. 

   iii.         The Enforcement team would be the relevant Officers to deal with consistent littering caused by anti-social behaviour around the area of the canoe club.  Would raise this with the Area Officers who could investigate this further, whether on a particular day and time etc. Would also be worth speaking to representatives of the canoe club to ask for further information and if they required any support.

  iv.         Noted the comment that Grantchester Meadows was a popular recreation location particularly at weekends and when the weather was hot; additional litter picking was required.

    v.         If residents’ association of Castle ward wanted assistance with litter picking, such as being provided with the relevant equipment there was a booking system for equipment that could be loaned out.

Litter-picking kits for volunteers - Cambridge City Council

  vi.         The Enforcement Team had Cam back radio which were directly linked to the CCTV room if they needed assistance with such issues such as commercial waste becoming an issue and could request footage when required.

 vii.         Noted the comment regarding the problem with commercial waste in Market Ward, but this was difficult to resolve if the operators were not on site when the offence had taken place.

viii.         There were six redeployable cameras available for fly tipping and waste crime.

  ix.         Agreed that the needle pick up across the wards seemed high but compared to the data over 24 months the number of needles discarded had decreased. Every single needle report received would go through to a series of partners the same day or next working day which included the police, all the needle teams and outreach teams.

    x.         Section 47 notices were served on businesses stipulating how they needed to manage, control, and present their waste for collection. Failure to comply was a fixed penalty or prosecution offence.

  xi.         Welcomed the comments of thanks assisting with the litter pick on Histon Rec.

 xii.         Noted the comments of thanks from the Committee to the volunteers for their work that they had undertaken.

 

Committee Manager Note: The Operations Team Leader advised of the following on 22/09/23 to point i of the minutes.                                

Our rapid response team incorporate the exterior bin washdown as part of the Cambridge Bid deep cleaning schedule. This team are also tasked with the removal and replacement of internal liners. The cleansing of liners takes place within Cowley Road depot to limit the contamination of our City streets. We work in partnership with Cambridge BID to provide regular external cleansing of key locations within our City. The time dedicated to the internal washdown is limited due to proactively responding to washdown requests across the City. If we have any additional resource, we deploy them to support the cleansing program.