Agenda item

The Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Customer First will attend the meeting in order to be held to account for matters within the remit of this committee. 

Discussion:

The Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Customer Contact had given information in a report about achievements within his portfolio during the past year and the committee asked him questions about these, which included:

·        Environmental health checks on food, following the recent national publicity about horsemeat found in beef burgers.

Councillor O’Brien advised that food safety was taken very seriously but he could not comment on the current situation about horsemeat. The Local Authority carried out all the relevant checks within Medway, which were at the end of the food chain but the national problems had been at the start of the food chain. The environmental health team had recently undergone a food safety health check, which it had passed with flying colours.

The council was also due to launch a Hygiene Registration Scheme, where food venues such as restaurants would be judged on hygiene, content and environmental standards and given a mark of excellence, if appropriate.

·        A recent re-structure in the police force had resulted in changes to personnel working at ward-level, which had not been communicated to Councillors.

The Portfolio Holder confirmed that there had been a re-structure in the police force including Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and the new structure was now in place. He would ask the police to notify Councillors of the names and contact numbers for the officers working within each ward.

·        Could the CCTV system be developed further to include other Local Authorities.

The Portfolio Holder advised that the CCTV Partnership had worked together to create a system that worked for all the Local Authorities involved in the partnership. Staff had re-located from the other councils to work in Medway to operate the enhanced coverage, with better quality equipment, which also created financial savings for all the authorities.

·        Were all CCTV cameras operational, as some cameras in Chatham were rumoured not to work whilst others had poor resolution

Councillor O’Brien advised that the old analogue CCTV system was prone to breaking but the advantage of the new contract was that all cameras were being updated to digital. This project was currently on going. He was unaware of any problems with the current cameras but would look into this.

·        Environmental enforcement, particularly for litter, was a high priority in town centres but could this be enforced in urban areas, especially school routes.

The Portfolio Holder informed Members that the Community Safety team was currently being consulted about plans to split the engagement side from the enforcement function into two very different roles, which would result in a dedicated enforcement team with strong targets to reach. The engagement officers would change their shift pattern so that they would be more visible on the streets.

There was also an on-going education programme to encourage people to be proud of the area they lived in but the team could look at occasional visits to urban areas. PCSO’s were working with secondary schools as this was an on-going problem they were trying to tackle.

·        A Member raised concerns with the reporting and enforcement of dog fouling, which was borne out in the Portfolio Holder’s report, as it stated there had been no enforcement action in this area during the past year. He had contacted a Community Safety officer, who had advised that the waste services team would not clear up any fouling outside of the normal cleansing schedule, which could mean that it remained there for up to two weeks. Members and Community Safety officers had both asked for signage about dog fouling to be put up in Beechings Way but were told there was no budget for this, so Ward Members were considering paying for this from their ward budgets.

Councillor O’Brien responded by advising that Beechings Way had dog litterbins along the route and the council gave away 100,000 ‘dog bags’ for owners to use and place in the bins across Medway. The reality of prosecuting a dog owner for allowing their dog to foul and not clear it up afterwards was very difficult, as the dogs had to be seen doing it.

The member stated that his main concern was that when a council officer reported this problem and asked the waste services team to clean it up, they were told this would only happen when the regular street cleansing service took place and there were communication problems between the two teams. Other Members agreed that dog fouling had become more of an issue during the past six months and one Members advised that the largest number of complaints he received was about this matter.

Councillor O’Brien advised that one officer was working on a programme about this issue and had made a film to try and get the message over that was available on Youtube. He could not explain why there was a particular problem over the past six months but assured the committee that officers would continue with their campaign and continue to look to enforce against this.

·        Did the council or the DVLA have responsibility for untaxed vehicles.

The Portfolio Holder advised that the council dealt with untaxed parked vehicles and the police dealt with those that were being driven. There had been a relaxation in the law recently which meant that the council could not remove the vehicle until it had been untaxed for two months.

·        A Member asked for information on the Prison Service and how it helped the council.

Councillor O’Brien advised that the Prison Service, together with the Probation Service, ran a ‘Community Payback Scheme’ in order to help prisoners and ex-prisoners re-integrate back into society by performing works around Medway. If Councillors had any request for the use of this service they should contact officers.

·        Would the proposed restructure of the Community Safety service have an impact on service delivery.

The Portfolio Holder advised that if the proposals in the consultation went ahead and there were changes to the current shift pattern, there would be more officers available in the day and people would see them more often. There would always be an officer for Councillors to contact and also the use of the ‘Love Medway’ App.

A Member responded by asking what duties would not be covered in the future, during the times when officers were working under the current shift pattern.

Councillor O’Brien stated that some officers currently started their shift at 5am in order to open up the parks, which was not the best use of their time and he was currently considering the alternatives, so that Community Safety officers were working appropriate to their duties. Members advised that they would be concerned if this resulted in parks (especially those located close to residential areas) remained open until late, or throughout the night, as residents would then probably suffer from anti-social behaviour and noise disturbance from the park. Councillor O’Brien advised that he had two options to consider and he had not yet decided which one to implement.

Decision:

The Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Customer Contact was thanked for attending the meeting.