Minutes:
The Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety used a PowerPoint to update the Committee.
It was noted that the MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime) funding for LBB was drawn down from the London Crime Policing Fund. It was confirmed that VAWG (violence against women and girls) now sat under an alternative Directorate. Reference was made to the VAWG related work that was being undertaken by Croydon and Bromley Women’s Aid. Youth mentoring was overseen by the Youth Offending Service.
The Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety briefed the Committee that LBB received monies from MOPAC that covered areas like ASB, Noise, IOM, Youth Mentoring, and VAWG.
Funding to the value of £7k (one fifth of total salary) was provided so that an officer could undertake IOM related work once a week. This work involved attending IOM Panel Meetings and providing data that would be fed back in to the Safer Bromley Partnership.
Members heard that with respect to nuisance from excess noise, this was normally related either to parties or to construction sites. Real time evidence was required for follow up and enforcement action. There was a Noise App and it was being used.
The Committee was advised that in terms of noise, contrary to popular opinion there was not a cut off time of 11.00pm. Construction sites would normally operate according to a code of practice. The Assistant Director for Public Protection and Enforcement clarified that for LBB to undertake enforcement action there must be a statutory nuisance which materially affected the use of a room.
The Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety explained what happened on ‘Community Impact Days’ (formerly known as ‘Operation Crystal’). He outlined the various partners that were involved and mentioned that Peter Sibley had been replaced by Sandra Campbell as the new ASB officer. It was MOPAC funding that covered the ASB officer post. Community Impact Days were:
• Led by ASB Project Officer (MOPAC Funded)
• Multi Agency
• Intelligence led – with a monthly planning meeting
• Deployments were made monthly
• Targets Environmental, ASB and Criminal issues
The aims of Community Impact Days were:
• To clear the area of long-term rubbish in and around targeted areas
• To raise awareness amongst the community about these matters.
• To reassure residents regarding Crime and other issues.
• To deal with Crime and ASB related matters in the area.
• To carry out Operations as defined by the intelligence and statistics provided by the Operations Intelligence Hub.
An update on the newly formed ‘JAG’ (Joint Action Group) was provided. The JAG had met in December, and a decision had been made to undertake high visibility joint patrols along with the use of Dispersal Orders. Local traders and CCTV managers had also been invited to the meeting. Since then, 21 young people had been given ABC (Acceptable Behaviour Contract) notices and some of these had escalated to Criminal Behaviour Order Notices. The next JAG meeting would be focusing on Homelessness and Street Begging. It was noted that BTP (British Transport Police) had been involved in operations from time to time along with BIA (Border and Immigration Agency) and HMRC.
A Member made a plea for the better sharing of information, she said that she was not aware of the Noise App and was not aware of Community Impact Days. She said that she was also not aware of the consultation process that had taken place with respect to the enforcement policy and that Councillors should be better informed so that they could help to promote consultation. The Assistant Director for Public Protection and Enforcement responded that details of the consultation regarding the Enforcement Policy had been disseminated in the same way as the Crime Survey, but that it was the Crime Survey that had received the much better response.
A discussion took place regarding the possible link between ASB and burglaries. The Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety stated that he was not aware that such a link had been proven.
It was noted that the LBB ASB officer and her counterpart in the police worked closely together.
The Assistant Director for Public Protection and Enforcement pointed out that a significant amount of burglary was linked to organised crime.
It was agreed that contact would be renewed with Community Payback.
RESOLVED that the MOPAC update is noted and that the Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety re-open links with Community Payback.