Agenda item

ES18046

The Committee was presented with the Enforcement Activity Update report which had been drafted by the Assistant Director for Public Protection and Enforcement.

The Chairman asked for an explanation as to what was meant by ‘price gouging’. It was noted that this referred to certain business premises charging inflated prices for items that were in short supply during lockdown.

A Member asked why pub landlords were taking vehicle registration details. The Head of Trading Standards and Licencing responded that he didn't know why this was happening, but he would investigate and respond to the Member privately.

The Chairman asked why there had been a decrease of 9% in what the Council was doing in terms of enforcement due to the number of complex cases that had arisen, and he asked for more information concerning this. Mr Smith gave an update as to why there had been a decrease in enforcement statistics with respect to fly tipping. He explained that the Environmental Officer dealing with fly-tipping had been investigating a number of cases, but the investigations very often led to a dead end, as the requisite criminal evidence needed for a prosecution to take place was not available. In most cases of fly tipping there was no evidence at the sites that could be used for prosecutions. It was becoming increasingly difficult to trace the fly tippers.  Roughly 10% of cases could be investigated based on evidence being available to take a prosecution forward.

A discussion took place concerning the removal of fly tipping posters from particular sites, and a Member enquired as to whether or not fly tipping increased when this was done. She asked where the posters were placed and if they could be seen, and was there a requirement for them to be more visible. Mr Smith explained that the posters were moved from time to time to avoid ‘sign blindness’. There was no evidence either way to show whether or not fly tipping increased when a poster was removed and re-located.

The Vice Chairman said that there was some data that was missing from a table that was on page 76 of the agenda—the Assistant Director for Public Protection and Enforcement said that she would re-circulate the page.

A reference was made to noise generated from construction sites and the reasons why the noise from these sites had increased. It was noted that the ‘considerate contractors’ scheme was voluntary and not mandatory.

A Member informed the Committee that a Community Impact Day would be taking place the day following the meeting in Penge. The Chairman was pleased to note this and hoped that MOPAC would continue to supply the funding for these activities.

The Chairman noted that since March 2020 there had been in excess of 81 changes to regulations from the Government, and many of these had impacted on public protection. Because of this, Bromley’s public protection staff had been extremely busying keeping on top of all these, and so the Chairman echoed the thanks to officers that had previously been expressed by the Portfolio Holder.

RESOLVED that the Enforcement Activity Report be noted.