Agenda item

The Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Enforcement will attend the meeting to give account of his performance against Council targets in his portfolio. 

Discussion:

The Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Enforcement, Councillor O’Brien, addressed the committee outlining some of the main achievements within his portfolio:

Partnerships

·        Important aspect of delivery of many of the services within his remit was to work very closely with partners and in particular he thanked the police who had been very supportive

·        Operation Elite – a multi-agency operation planned by the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) to tackle anti-social behaviour and environmental issues

·        Kent Probation’s Community Payback scheme

·        Partners and Communities Together (PACTs) – the CSP would respond to the recommendations of this committee’s review but in the meantime had held an inaugural Forum for all PACT Chairmen which had been very successful

·        Schools and Communities Together (SACTs). The first of these between Rainham Girls School and the Howard School had recently been formed to encourage engagement with young people and the community.

Environmental enforcement

·        There had been a 17.5% increase on the number of cases on last year which was now a total of 3,261 cases – including:
21 successfully prosecuted cases for waste related offences and 38 pending prosecutions

64 fixed penalty notices were served for offences including smoking in smokefree premises and lack of trade waste provision

Operation Cubit

·        449 untaxed vehicles on the highway had been removed to date.

Trading Standards

·        Fair Trader scheme – more than 245 business on the list

·        Underage sales – 155 test purchase operations carried out

·        Consumer education and advice – advice sessions aimed at vulnerable consumers, scams awareness month, Consumer Challenge quiz, 4,000+ referrals passed to team for intelligence-led enforcement or further action

·        Other enforcement – including 350 other enforcement actions in 2010/2011.

Food enforcement

·        “Eat Out Eat Well” scheme – rewarded caterers who made it easier for their customers to make healthy choices when eating out

·        566 food hygiene inspections with 30 notices served and 1823 infectious disease notices received from the Health Protection Agency

Health and Safety

·        170 businesses on the Gillingham Business Park were visited and offered advice and free training on complying with health and safety requirements

·        Officers have developed and produced a guidance document for skin piercing and tattooing establishments jointly with Dartford Borough Council and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health would like to publish it as national guidance.

Environmental Protection

·        Air quality review and assessment work, which began in 2009, has been finalised. The team is now working on the next stages of the review in conjunction with colleagues from other departments

·        Graffiti – 12 offensive items had been reported and 764 non-offensive instances reported to the team for cleaning

·        Dogs and dog fouling – 61 complaints of dog fouling were received and dealt with and 589 dogs picked up by the community team and taken into kennels for recovery by owners or re-homing.

CCTV

·        70 arrests during March had been made using CCTV footage and 718 arrests in total for the year.

Use of new “app” (mobile phone application)

·        a new “app” was being developed to make it easier for residents, Members, officers and the public to report environmental issues through the use of smartphone technology which integrated with the council computer systems.

Emergency planning

·        Exercise Popcorn II – tested a multi-agency tactical group in an exercise to test the off-site plan for BP Grain and National Grid under the Control of Major Accidents Hazards Regulations 1999 (COMAH) sites regulations

·        Operation Jupiter III – a test under the same regulations for Southern Gas Networks in Gillingham

·        Exercise Watermark – a national exercise to test flood plans, major emergency and recovery plans.

Members asked the Portfolio Holder about and commented on:

·        SOS bus

·        Leaflets warning of possible prosecution for fly-tipping

·        Use of the Community Payback scheme

·        Luton Arches, Gillingham – on-going problems with pigeons.

Decision:

The committee thanked Councillor O’Brien for attending the meeting and the information and answers he had provided.