Agenda and minutes

Venue: Town Hall, Main Road, Romford

Contact: Wendy Gough 01708 432441  Email: wendy.gough@onesource.co.uk

Items
No. Item

5.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 73 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18 June 2015  and authorise the Chairman to sign them (attached).

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the Sub-Committee held on 18 June 2015 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.

 

6.

TREES AND WEEDS PROGRAMME

The Sub-Committee will receive details of the current policy for pruning and treating of tree roots.

 

Minutes:

Weed Control

 

The Sub-Committee received an interesting presentation on the current maintenance programme for weeds in the borough.  It was noted that the current contract was held by S.H. Goss.  This contract would soon be renewed or retendered as the two years contract was due to expire.

 

The cost to remove weeds on the carriageways in the borough was approximately £76,000 per annum.  All roads were treated with a Glyphosate based herbicide this was the only approved chemical for use on the highway.  This herbicide had a “contact action” therefore there needed to be active growth for the spray to be effective.

 

It was noted that previously a residual weed killer was used, much the same as could be used be purchase in local stores, however these could not be used on the highway as it was found that too much was contaminating the water system.

 

The roads were sprayed four times a year, during the growing season March to October.  Each period of spraying takes approximately 7 – 8 weeks, and it took 21 days for the weeds to die back once they had been sprayed.

 

At times of inclement weather when the herbicides were not as effective, the teams manually removed weeds from the roads.  Particular problem species for example, Knotgrass and Mares Tail were particularly resistant.

 

The contractor supplied weekly updates to the service, detailing areas completed, areas where manual removal had taken place and any ward specific issues.

 

Members enquired about where weeds were coming through from resident’s gardens or on privately own land.  Officers stated that it was the landowners/ residents responsibility to ensure that weeds were kept under control.  Where necessary a Community Protection Notice could be served stating that the weed should be cleared from their property and to avoid it from trailing onto the highway.

 

Members asked about how the service dealt with the contractors spraying the wrong plants?  Officers stated that this did happen, however if it is reported then the service would investigate and get the contractor to put it right.

 

Tree Maintenance/ Pruning

 

The borough had in excess of 273,000 trees made up of various species.  This was at a cost of approximately £530,000 a year for the maintenance and pruning.  All highway trees were scheduled for pruning as part of the Whole Street Pruning Programme.  This was either three or five years depending upon the size and species of the tree.  Trees are inspected prior to any pruning to confirm the works required to maintain the tree.  During these inspections further information was gathered about each individual tree, including the species, current size and any damage to the tree.  All this information was stored on a database and was used to provide an up to date record of the management of each tree.  This information was used to plot the history of the tree, along with any complaints, insurance queries and amenity value.

 

The Sub-Committee noted that some species produce a large amount of basal growth, which can  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

FLYTIPPING AND ENFORCEMENT

The Sub-Committee will receive a presentation setting out the causes and type of waste being fly-tipped.

 

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a presentation on Flytipping in Havering.  Officers explained that the definition of fly-tipping by DEFRA was the unlawful deposit of waste on land without the authority of the land owner.  This could be a single black bag or one or more tipper loads.  The responsibility of removing the fly-tip was dependant on whose land it was on and the nature of the waste.  The removal of fly-tipping had a large financial impact to the Council.

 

The Sub-Committee was shown a number of graphs setting out the number of fly-tips reported in Havering, the type of waste and the size of waste.  It was noted that not all fly-tips would be reported as the majority could be collected by the street cleansing team, who would not report as a fly-tip.

 

The majority of fly-tips were household waste (54%), commercial waste was a smaller proportion (1%).  Certain areas in the borough were more prevalent for fly-tipping, the known costs of fly-tipping in Havering were over £400,000 but the unmeasured costs are likely to be nearer to £1 million.

 

The role of a Streetcare Enforcement Officer was explained.  The primary task was to reduce waste which would in turn save a large sum of money.  It was noted that it was often difficult to identify flytipping, and where this was the case, the landowners or residents in the area would have to pay the cost of the removal.  Where evidence was found of the source of the flytip, the individual was invited to attend an interview to explain why they lost control of their waste.  The officer would then decide on the appropriate action.  Where sufficient evidence to the substantiate enforcement action is found, and it appears to be in the public interest to proceed, officers will prepare a legal file.

 

Officers outlined the causes of people flytipping and examples of where CCTV had been erected in more remote parts of the borough which had been successful in catching people flytipping which had led to convictions.

 

The Sub-Committee thanked the officers for a very informative presentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.

FUTURE AGENDAS

Committee Members are invited to indicate to the Chairman, items within this Committee’s terms of reference they would like to see discussed at a future meeting.  Note: it is not considered appropriate for issues relating to individuals to be discussed under this provision.

 

Minutes:

At its next meeting the Sub-Committee would look at the following items:

 

·         Food Standards Scheme

·         Parking in the Borough for residents

·         Commuter Parking

·         Corporate Performance Indicators

·         Composting Scheme (Bags and Bins)