Issue - meetings

ES18069

The Committee was presented with the Fly Tipping Action Initiative report that had been drafted by the Assistant Director for Environment and Neighbourhood Management.   

Members heard that the action plan was being developed and that an update report would follow in about six months.

A Member was pleased to see that target hardening was being looked at. She commented that materials used needed to be unbreakable. The Vice Chairman stated that ‘hard targets’ had in the past been cut down by angle grinders.

A Member was pleased to hear that Environmental Enforcement Campaigns were being used, alongside multi-agency stop and search operations. She suggested that consideration could be given to attaching conditions to planning applications stipulating that waste carriers with licenses should be used for the disposal of waste. The Executive Director for Environmental and Community Services stated that he would take the suggestion to the Chief Planner for consideration.

A Member raised the issue of public waste bins outside of shops and schools that were being used by the public for general household waste. It was noted that if the use of signage and patrols failed in this regard, then it may the case that the bins would need to be removed.

A co-opted member stated that there was a particular difficulty for certain groups of people that lived in flats where there were no bins available; sometimes this problem was compounded by language problems. The Chairman asked to be informed of where these locations were.

A Member asked how they could know if an area that they were concerned about, was on the fly tipping hotspot list. It was suggested that the Assistant Director for Environment and Neighbourhood Management be asked to run a new report that would identify the hotspot locations.

The Director for Environment reported on the successful seizure of a vehicle that had been used by Travellers for fly tipping. If the vehicle was claimed, then it was likely that there would be prosecution for fly tipping; if the vehicle was unclaimed then it would be crushed.

The Chairman thanked Dan Jones (Director for Environment) for his service to the Council.

RESOLVED that the report is noted and that the Committee receive a six monthly update report on the progress of the action plan.