Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 26^th July 2016 and authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meeting of the Sub-Committee held on 26 July 2016 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.

The Sub-Committee will receive an overview of parking within the Borough.  These include:

·         Moving Traffic Contraventions – update on successes

·         Public Safety Protection Order (PSPO) – School Safety initiative.

·         Obstructive Parking initiative.

·         Parking at Queens Hospital

The Sub-Committee received an overview on Parking issue and review within the borough.

Moving Traffic Contraventions – The council had been enforcing moving traffic contraventions since September 2015 via mobile CCTV vehicles.  The Council was seeking to enhance the enforcement activity by introducing re-deployable cameras at various locations in the borough.  20 locations had been identified and priorities in order of road safety, improved traffic flow and non-compliance.  The roll out would be in phases with the first to commence on 16 November 2016. 

The locations would include:

·         Straight Road/ Harold Hill Section 1 – Bus Lane

·         Straight Road/ Harold Hill Section 2 – Bus Lane

·         London Road – Eastbound Bus Lane

·         Western Road into Asda Car Park – No Right Turn

·         Western Road into Asda Loading Bay – No Right Turn

·         North Street, Romford – Bus Lane

·         Main Road (into and out of Havering Town Hall) – Banned Right Turns

Officers explained that redeployable cameras could be moved, and it was about changing the behaviours of motorist.  Initially the enforcement would be relaxed, and all signage had been renewed to ensure that motorist were aware of the contraventions.  Any money raised from the contraventions was ringfenced for parking and highways.

Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO) – Due to the number of parking complaints occurring in various locations around schools concerning dangerous driving activities it was decided to pursue the introduction of a PSPO to help increase the safety of children.

Four schools were part of the PSPO pilot, these were:

·         Wykenham

·         James Oglethorpe

·         Parsonage Farm

·         Engayne (January 2017)

The infrastructure was in place in preparation with the first school going live on 7 November 2016. 

Officers explained that the PSPO would make it an offence to drop off or pick up children in the designated area.  This would be monitored by cameras and there would be three checks of verification before any fine was issued.  The fine would be a Fixed Penalty Notice of £100.

Members noted that the proposals that had been agreed had been more complex with residents having to get permits for carers and deliveries etc.  Officer explained that this was a simpler scheme with camera and enforcement officers checking that the PSPO was being adhered to.  A letter had been sent to all residents in each of the PSPO areas, informing them of changes.  It was felt this would be more customer-friendly.

Officers agreed to provide a copy of the letter to all members so they were also informed of the changes to the scheme.

Obstructive Parking – The blocking of dropped kerbs was an issue for many residents of the borough.  The legislation allowed the Council to enforce, but only if requested by the resident, and this had always been the case in Havering.  This was currently enforceable by the issue of a PCN.

Officers explained that the legislation allowed for vehicles to be immobilised or removed in certain circumstances, however the removal of a vehicle causing an obstruction had a financial risk (£40  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Sub-Committee will receive a presentation setting out the Corporate Performance Information within its remit for Quarter 2 of 2016.

The Sub-Committee considered the Corporate Performance report for Quarter 2.

The report identified where the Council was performing well (Green rating) and not so well (Amber and Red rating).  It noted that where RAG rating was Red, “Corrective Action” was including in the report, this highlighted the actions the Council would take to address poor performance.

There were 3 Corporate Indicators that fell under the remit of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee.  These related to the Clean goal

The indicators were:

·         Levy waste tonnage

·         Average number of days taken to remove streetcare flytips

·         The number of parts with Green Flag status

The highlights included the average number of days to remove streetcare flytips being better than shown, performance of 1.8 days and a target of 1 day.  However there was continuing issues with recording accurate data.  The introduction of in-cab technology would alleviate this.  An order had been paced to equip the street cleansing fleet with “In-cab” devices and should be operational from January 2017.

The improvements required for the removal of flytips included:

·         A number of large-scale fly-tips occurred in rural areas of the borough last quarter.  This added extra demand and pressure onto the service.  These flytips often contain contaminated waste which required a specialist contractor to clear and therefore took longer to remove.

·         In some rural roads, waste was dumped in ditches, which also required a specialist team to remove and increased the time taken to clear.  Large-scale flytips could also be part of an organised crime network.

·         Covert operations would be taking place as well as partnership work with the Police and Environment Agency to tackle these issues.  Rural roads were checked by the enforcement team on a daily basis.

The improvements required for the levy waste tonnage included:

·         Provisional data for Juy and August 2016 suggested that the levy tonnages were 2106 tonnes up compared to July and August 2015.  There had been 21 events that the waste team had attended and supported to promote waste minimisation during the last quarter  These included Love Food Hate Waste Cookery workshops, Love Your Clothes campaign, Recycle Week Roadshow, Restart Parties and Composting Workshops

·         This was in addition to the Green Points Scheme and Identifying excessive waste producers.

The Sub-Committee noted the Demand Pressures graphs against the population estimates.

Members were keen to be informed when workshops and events were taking place so they could promote these to residents.

The Sub-Committee NOTED the presentation.