Agenda item

Changes to Street Maintenance and Enforcement

Meeting of Strensall Ward Committee, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 6.30 pm (Item 4.)

Minutes:

Russell Stone, Head of Public Realm at City of York Council updated residents on the changes to street maintenance and enforcement and how the new Smarter York Team would be working.

He said he was no in charge of street cleansing and ground maintenance across the city. His section used to include the Street Enforcement Officers but a couple of years ago their role was split into Community Engagement Officers and Enforcement Officers. This coincided with the Council reviewing their other enforcement roles. An anti-social behaviour hub has now been formed comprising six officers and others who work more closely with the police and pcso’s. Therefore the duties of the Street Enforcement officers are now dealt with by a wider team.

The community engagement role has been left under my control and three officers from the Smarter York team undertake this work.

The Council is aiming towards working with volunteers to assist them i.e. residents groups, businesses, private sector, individuals to help us keep the city to the standard we would like it to be. Across the city there are different needs and standards and our budgets and resources are shrinking and they are expected to continue to do so. As a result of this the street cleansing service will become more reactive. Ten years ago officers had set rounds but now we are reliant on our own ‘eyes and ears’ as well as those of other members of staff and members of the public to tell us if there is a problem. It is hoped that officer will be able to set up a group. There is a section on the Council website setting out the changes and new ways of working and Mr Stone said he could be contacted by phone on 01904 551551 and asking to speak to the Smarter York officers. I can also be emailed directly on Russell.stone@york.gov.uk.

The Ground Maintenance Team has also decreased in numbers and therefore they are not able to do as much as previously and are setting minimum standards. If people want to get involved we will help them. For example a couple of years ago residents on the Wigginton Committee asked if they could look after their street by cutting their own verges and picking up litter. They were given some basic Health and Safety training on what and how to do it and signed a letter to say they had had the training. They were then put on the Council’s volunteers’ insurance policy. They contact us from time to time to pick up bags of litter that they have collected.

Q	A resident asked why he could no longer get a report number to track a report to the council regarding fly tipping.
A	The Council have been experiencing IT problems in regard to this computer system over the last 4/5 months. I am told they are working on this but I myself am unable to get report data from it. Cllr Doughty said that there had been questions raised regarding this issue at Full Council and he thought it had been ongoing since the start of the year. He was hoping that the CEO would be pushing for this to be repaired as soon as possible. Cllr Wiseman said there were similar IT problems with Minster Badges payments.
Q	But if there is no report number, it cannot be quoted in future contacts with the Council should the matter not be attended to.
A	Reports are still be logged but they are currently logged manually on a different system. Reports are then passed to us at Hazel Court.
Q	There are problems with getting rid of rubber and terracotta plant pots at Towthorpe Tip. Since Towthorpe is no longer taking this material and Hazel Court are charging to get rid of it there has been an increase in fly tipping. Also as Towthorpe tip is closed on a Wednesday people who cannot access the tip just fly tip.
A	I will feed this back.
Q	Has there been a reduction in spraying weeds on pavements?
A	No. There has been no reduction in our weed control. We employ a contractor to do this for us and we have used the same contractor for the last 5/6 years. They spray on average three times and year and do the first spray in March. Unfortunately, due to legislation, the chemical that all Local Authorities are obliged to is a contact weed killer and has no residual affect. We are also constrained on how many times a year we can do this. This year, due to a lot of rain in the Spring grass and weeds have grown fast. Spraying cannot take place in the rain and w e got behind with the grass cutting due to the wet conditions. The second spray is due next week. The spraying starts in the centre of the city and works its way out to the villages.
Q	Could you not put a letter in the press explaining this?
A	No it is a policy not to reply to every letter in the press due to time constraints.
Q	Cllr Doughty asked how the contractors work was monitored.
A	We only use the contractors for weed spraying control. We have our own supervisors that inspect the work and we do and also carry out ad hoc inspections of the contractors work. The contractor has to give us a daily record street by street of what day they have sprayed the weeds on them so there is a record should someone complain. There has never been a dispute with the contractor.
Q	Are adopted drives sprayed?
A	Yes. The Planning Department passes the information to us and we put them on the contractor’s list.
Q	Cllr Wiseman said that the grass cutting by council contractors had recently been a bit hit and miss - who checks this, and why are the grass edges not stimmed.
A	Mr Stone said that the grass cutters are the cylinder type and therefore do not get the edges of the grass
Q	The Payback team had arranged to come to the village on Sunday. They asked if we had work for 15 people and we said yes so long as they have a strimmer. At the last minute they emailed to say they could not come as they did not have a strimmer
A	Mr Stone advised that the council were increasing their work with Community Payback via the Probation Service for grass cutting and litter picking. Villages and Parishes and also areas of the city are now getting the benefit of them.
Q	Resident said that they used to come every week but it had now been 3 weeks since they did any work. It was felt that the work they have been carrying out in Strensall has been so successful that we have lost them to other villages. They are also restricted in where they can work, for example not too close to the edge of the road, so we have to do this work
A	They are not allowed to work in areas above 30mph.
Q	Why does the long grass get left?
A	This situation is the same everywhere in the city and it is due to the financial constraints.
Q	Would it be possible to have someone come to the village and look around and we could point out the areas where there is an issue?
A	You would need to contact the Probation Service and inform them that the teams are not carrying out their duties.
Q	Cllr Doughty was concerned that more reliance was being put on the Parish Councils to take on work that the Council would normally do and that they were essentially being taxed twice.
A	Mr Stone said he had attended a meeting on Monday evening between Parish Councils and Residents Forums at which this item was discussed. There will be further meetings of this sort as the Council is looking for more work to be carried out by volunteers and less by them.
Q	Cllr Doughty asked whether there would be an incentive for local residents to become more involved.
A	No financial incentive.
Q	Cllr Doughty – not even a modest enhancement for the local area if residents are doing the work for free thus saving the Council money.
A	Mr Stone – this would not be a saving as we do not have the money in the first place.
Q	Cllr Wiseman asked what was the Council policy on Himalayan Balsam, hogweed and deadly nightshade. It has not suddenly appeared and these weeds cannot go into the recycling, it is largely Council land that is covered in these weeds.
A	Mr Stone said he would have to talk to his colleagues in the Conservation Team.
Q	Residents said that as City of York depends upon tourism he was disappointed that litter bins in the city had not been emptied from the day before by 11.00am the following morning.
A	The city centre is cleansed 365 days a year, the team work seven days a week from 5.00am to 7.00pm. Unfortunately nightclubs close around 4.00am and there is always a lot of litter. There is a team of 4 staff who start work at 5.00am with two mechanical sweepers and finish at 8.00am. There is one man who works from 9.30am emptying bins so it takes him sometime to empty all the bins.
Q	Resident: Why can York not have grey wheelie bins like Scarborough Council?
A	The bins in Scarborough are mainly compactor bins that compact eight times the amount of rubbish. They are a lot larger than conventional bins and would therefore not be suitable for the streets of York.