Agenda item

Subject to the required notice being given, members of the public can ask questions of the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

The Chairman shall determine the number of questions to be tabled at a particular meeting in order to limit the time for questions and answers to 21 minutes.

There is one question from a member of the public on this occasion.

Subject to the required notice being given, members of the public could ask questions of the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

The following question had been received, on notice, from a member of the public:

Question

Mr Andy Baker asked Councillor Neil Stock OBE, the Leader of the Council:-

“I am sure you will agree that the incidences of fly tipping across the District has gone up, as has the amount of litter now seen daily, and seems to be increasing exponentially, and especially with regard to overflowing public waste bins. However, more recently the public waste bins that are provided across the District would appear either to be insufficient to cope with the volume of waste, or are not emptied frequently enough. I refer specifically to the areas of Walton, Frinton, Holland-on-Sea and Clacton.

You no doubt have seen posts on social media, with photographs showing overflowing waste bins, surrounded by more waste, as well as the angry comments from residents of those areas I have mentioned, about the lack of activity by TDC and its contractor.

I cannot comment on other parts of the District but, going by what I have seen myself, I would presume that it is the same all over.

As the areas I have mentioned are very popular, not only with residents, but visitors, once they are again allowed, the image of our coastal areas must be a positive one, and seeing litter and rubbish everywhere definitely does not present and attractive experience to come.

Would you please instruct the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Public Space, and the relevant officers of the Council, to undertake a comprehensive review of the performance of the Council's contractor in not only the emptying of public waste bins, but their frequency, as well as the supervision and monitoring of this service to this Council, by Council officers, and any other associated and relevant matters relating to the same, with the review to be overseen by the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee?”

Councillor Stock OBE replied to the question as follows:-

“May I begin by thanking Mr Baker for his question and of course pointing out that littering and fly tipping are not caused by the Council, its staff or its contractors. These are the actions of an inconsiderate few that impose large financial costs on all our residents.

Last season, and already this year, we have seen larger than normal numbers of visitors to the coast which is of course fantastic news, but it has meant some problems including bins overflowing in some areas even when nearby bins are not filled. Reacting to this last year additional bins were put out, extra collections, including large litter picks were deployed. The roll out of some additional bins in key areas has already begun in the current year.

Typically, the Council provides around 1300 permanent bins around the district including 200 on the seafronts. Just to re-state that figure, we have one thousand three hundred bins across what is a huge geographical area, and this is then augmented by 150 further seasonal bins and over 20 larger “Dalek” bins. This was added to last year and, proactively, the Council’s officers have begun to add further additional bins this year.

So, this Council does a huge amount to deal with litter. As I have already mentioned large numbers of bins are provided and in season the contractor litter picks and empties bins on the seafronts twice daily.

When fly tipping is reported it is reacted to swiftly and officers are taking necessary legal steps to be able to lawfully deploy and use CCTV at trouble spots. Various publicity campaigns are run and where evidence can be found perpetrators are traced and dealt with. However, the district is extremely large and mainly rural. It would be impractical to think that action could be taken that could completely prevent fly tipping.

There have been cases in the last year where visitor behaviour has been poor. There have also been occasional missed bins caused by human error, technical issues and even traffic problems. Where this occurs both the officer and contractor teams work hard to put things right quickly.

In the coming season the waste team is planning to take a proactive approach and giving instructions for additional bins at key points to be installed early and requesting extra emptying in advance if weekend weather seems likely to encourage extra visitors before the season begins.

But rather than criticising our officers and staff I would like to pay tribute to the additional work and effort that has been put in, over and above their contribution to the Covid efforts. Of course, we must always try to improve what we do. I know that Councillor Talbot will be working with the team to look for ways that peak demands and trouble spots in the current season can be dealt with. Many parts of the organisation will be working to assist with that, whether it be finding ways to deploy CCTV, reporting incidents, or trying to educate the public.

In conclusion, littering and fly-tipping is a serious issue, it will always be a serious issue and it is one that this Council and we, as Members, have to devote a lot of time and energy to and it is something that we take very seriously.”