Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Sub-Committee held on 15 January 2015 and authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meeting of the Sub-Committee held on 15 January 2015 were agreed subject to the addition of the following sentence with regards the Probation Service Information (item30) and signed by the Chairman.

That the Probation Service was paid £200 by Homes & Housing for supervision.

Following a request from a member, the Sub-Committee will receive details of how residents front gardens are enforced and the impact this will have on the street scene.

Further to a Member’s request, the Sub-Committee received a briefing on how residents’ front gardens were enforced and the impact this would have on the street scene.

The service had produced a leaflet highlighting the issue as a new vision for the borough would be launched, under the Clean, Safe and Proud motto.

There would be some communications activities between now and the pre-election purdah period to get this message out, raising awareness of how the council was tackling a key priority for residents.

The sub-committee was informed that following the general election, the Cleaner Havering campaign would resume, focusing on tackling fly-tipping, littering particularly in town centres and working with community groups to run a number of clean ups across the borough.

The Group Manager, Traffic & Parking detailed that as part of the campaign, the service would identify where untidy front gardens was an issue, raise awareness of what residents should do to get rid of rubbish in their front gardens and follow up with enforcement action where appropriate.  

It was noted that what defined as an untidy front garden was open to interpretation and would need establishing; this was essential as any action would require a level of consistency.

The sub-committee was informed that there was also the issue of proportionality. With the withdrawal of S92 litter clearance notices the only way the Council could enforce such an issue would likely be by a notice under the new Crime and Policing Act 2014.

This would require sending a polite letter first but if this was ignored then an advisory notice under the above Act could be served. If that was ignored, the service could then serve a compulsory notice under the Act. A failure to comply would involve officers preparing a legal file which would then require approval by legal services. Ultimately an appearance before a magistrate could follow. The fine for non-compliance was up to level 4 (£2,500).

It was noted that in Barking and Dagenham officers had examined this issue and Havering officers were making contact with colleagues there to ascertain if these measures had been introduced.

The sub-committee was advised that there were also new anti-social laws whereby a Community Protection Notice was issued and if the resident failed to comply, the council could undertake a clean-up of the front garden and charge the resident concerned.

A Member was of the opinion that the Council should explore avenues to assist low income earners to dispose of old and unwanted furniture.

The Sub-Committee noted the briefing.

The Sub-Committee will discuss the trends in enquires received via CRM in relation to its remit.

Please see data attached.

At the last meeting the Sub-Committee requested further details on information on levels of prosecution of fly tipping as the CRM data had indicated a rise.

The Sub-Committee noted that the service had twelve remote cameras in identified fly tipping spots and had recorded five prosecutions.

It was agreed that further information on the low rate of prosecution and the associated procedures be considered at the next meeting.

The Committee will receive a presentation on the progress of the following report which was approved by Cabinet on 25 September 2013:

·         Approval to access energy efficiency funding through the Green Deal & Energy Company Obligation (ECO) via a Greater London Authority (GLA) framework.

In accordance with the Council’s Continuous Improvement Model, the sub-committee received a presentation on progress with issues agreed in the Cabinet report dated 25 September 2013 that gave approval to access energy efficiency funding through the Green Deal & Energy Company Obligation (ECO) via a Greater London Authority (GLA) framework.

The Sustainability Officer informed Members that following the rise in energy prices, this resulted in less people been able to heat their homes in winter. It was stated that one of the team’s roles was to help residents improve their homes to help reduce energy costs, particularly for the most vulnerable residents.

The sustainable team worked directly with energy companies, government and other private sector partners to attract as much funding to benefit of Havering residents.

The Team secured funding which was given directly to Havering residents to improve the energy efficiency of their homes – wall insulation, loft insulation, new boilers, and repair heating systems.  These grants were targeted towards those who cannot afford these measures, but can least afford high energy prices.

Along the way, the Coalition government introduced a new framework to replace the grants, called Green Deal & ECO.  Green Deal were loans for measures, and the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) were grants with stronger criteria so they were going to those most in need. This came into effect from April 2012.

The sub-committee noted that based on the government criteria for the new grants, this translated into was 100% funding for boiler replacement or heating system (£2k-£4k; £400 for cavity wall insulation); 1/3 of cost of external wall insulation (£10k).

But following a strong lobby from energy companies, the government changed the rules for funding which meant Energy companies had a lower targets to meet or had already met them and as such reduced the amount of funding that was required.

This meant restricting the criteria for who could be eligible, prioritised low cost measures so that those living in homes which were more expensive could now no longer get grants.

The sub-committee was informed that in the past year:

-          Over 500 homes receiving wall and loft insulation (CWI & Loft: 70 Council, 25 private)

-          160 homes receiving heating measures – big push in October 2014, 10,000 letters sent to eligible residents

-          Unfortunately all Councils are in the same position (as the scheme changes are national)

-          The current regime would run until 2017.

The sub-committee was informed that within the Cabinet Report, the service had the remit to explore and offer different options, securing as much offers for resident of the borough. 

The service had been able to negotiate directly with Energy companies, whilst other companies had also approached officers directly funding available. Members gathered that strong relationships with procured partners had benefitted resident of the borough during these times when people are feeling their purses stretched.

The sub-committee noted that other opportunities been investigated had secured £46k for private landlords under the Council’s new lettings agency Liberty Housing for energy efficiency to rented  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

The Sub-Committee will receive a copy of the Streetcare Service Plan for review. (attached)

The Sub-Committee considered a report that detailed the service plan for StreetCare Services.

Members requested for further information on the performances of the following areas of the service:

·         Traffic Enforcement

·         Waste Collection

·         Recycling

·         Street Cleaning

The Sub-Committee also asked for further information on service areas that had not achieved their targets at the next meeting.

Members raised concern that they had report that only one side of the road was been cleaned. Further concern was raised about the timer on street lighting that it seems they were not programmed properly.

A Member asked for information on the cleaning arrangement for removal of chewing gum on pavements.

The Sub-Committee noted that the council was signing up to the anti-spitting campaign, they wanted further information on the council’s enlightenment campaign and asked for further signage and disposal bins to be strategically placed.

It was agreed that further information be brought back to the next meeting of the sub-committee.

The Sub-Committee will receive a presentation on the role and responsibilities of Community Safety including staffing and budgets.

The Sub-Committee received a presentation on the role and responsibilities of Community Safety including staffing and budgets from Community Safety Team Leader.

The sub-committee was informed that the Community Safety section was responsible for the strategic development and implementation of work to address crime and disorder in Havering.

This strategic role functioned via Council and partnership activity through the Havering Community Safety Partnership, (Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership), which was a multi-agency group of representatives from the statutory, business and voluntary sector.

The service included:

•         The day to day management, support and development of the HCSP through the facilitation of partnership meetings, reporting on progress, keeping partnership members up to date on new and emerging legislation and policy and co-ordinating local delivery

•         Leading on the Council’s response to its statutory responsibilities under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, and other associated legislation, advising and enabling services and co-ordinating joint service activity.  

•         Conducting the annual Strategic Assessment was a review of the levels and patterns of crime, disorder and drugs misuse drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data. 

•         The development and implementation of programmes of work to address the MOPAC 7 crimes

•         Deliver preventative, targeted community engagement that reduces crime and facilitate the Safer Neighbourhood Board

•         Implementation of statutory responsibilities on the new Counter Terrorism Act 2015

The presentation informed Members that:

In the last 12 months, since the last assessment

Acquisitive Crime: Burglary and Vehicle Crime Priority

Largest burglary reduction in over a decade and best performance since 2006 (20%)

Largest Vehicle Crime reduction in over a decade and best performance since 2006

(-27%)

Violence Against Women & Girls Priority

Increasing number of victims were being identified, aided in part by improved recording standards.

This had helped identify an increasing number of repeat victims for interventions.

Development of VAWG strategy and strategic board to deliver on this agenda

Romford Town Centre Priority

Rates of crime had fallen below that of comparable centres, such as Bromley, Kingston & Sutton.

Romford had the fastest declining rate of violence within the night time economy of all regional town centres.

The sub-committee were informed of the following priorities for 2015-16

•         Complete Annual Strategic Assessment to enable priority setting for the HCSP

•         Develop / refresh community safety plan

•         Further develop locality based interventions to crime prevention using problem solving approaches and customer insight profiling

•         Develop a programme of work to address the MOPAC 7 crimes

•         Develop a programme of crime prevention and community engagement

•         Develop a programme of work to address Domestic Abuse and Violence against women and girls in the Borough

•         Develop a programme of work to address ASB within the Borough

•         Develop a programme of work to address Serious Youth Violence in Havering

•         Develop a programme of work to address drug and alcohol related crimes and Anti-Social Behaviour

•         Develop and implement a programme of work to reduce re-offending

•         Develop a programme of  work to prevent counter terrorism

Following a Member request, the Chairman had allowed for an update under urgent business as this matter related to a new application that was to be considered at the next Regulatory Services meeting, the member was of the opinion that it would be beneficial to have an update to ensure strong conditions would be attached to the application.

The issue related to the condition of the A1306 regarding lorry movements, mud, debris and enforcement. The Sub-Committee was informed that there were on-going complaints, enforcement and plans of action regarding the A1306 regarding lorry movements, mud, debris.

The Sub-Committee was informed by the Group Manager Traffic & Parking that officers from Streetcare had considered various options for this site. The best solution to stop vehicles accessing the area would be to install trief kerbing alongside the grass verges and across the bridge deck we were considering the concrete blocks that are used as a work force protection systems on road works on motorways etc (due to the lack of available excavation depth on the bridge deck).

Streetcare were currently pulling together an estimate which would be ready next week.

The Sub-Committee noted that Planning Services advised that the golf course were not in breach of the planning conditions which were to fit a wheel wash and make sure all vehicles use it. Planning would be reviewing their recommendations in respect of this type of development in future to maybe stipulate the type of wash but this could not be impose on this particular site.

Members were informed that the Golf Course had a mechanical sweeping arrangements in place that swept the road from Launders Lane down and including the roundabout at the top of the A13, plus the pavements to  supplement the Council’s weekly scheduled weekly of sweeping the road and this appeared to be keeping matter to a minimum.

The Sub-Committee noted the update.