The Board will receive a presentation on the recent shop wrapping and cleaning project.

(a)  Shop wrapping

The Board was provided with images of the shop wrapping of the former Burton Shop and former P G Oxley office window (both in Station Road, Clacton-on-Sea) and several of the windows in the current QD store in Rosemary Road.  There were positive comments about the shop wrapping that had been put in place.   

The update provided was NOTED.

(b)  Maintaining Shop Fronts

There was then a discussion around the actions of several shop front owners in the town centre who were not adequately maintaining those shop fronts, and this was adversely affecting the visual appearance of the area.  The powers to enforced good maintenance were then referenced as follows:

• Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (‘the Planning Act 1990’)?
• Could be served on an owner when the amenity of an area was adversely affected by the condition of an asset?
• The Notice requires steps to remedy the condition within a set timescale?
• Could be used in respect of any land, designated or not, including buildings, in use or vacant?
• The various steps to secure compliance of any Notice before any more punitive action would be taken was, probably, about 9 months.?

The need to have a whole-Town approach to this process was commented upon in order to address issues.  The resourcing of enforcement around the powers in Section 215 referenced about was something the conversation at the Board centred upon.  The ability to provide a dedicated resource that would not be drawn into other areas of work was referenced.  Likewise, the approach to be taken and the skill set required was mentioned. 

The Board also focused on action to deal with graffiti on private property in the town centre.  Here there was reference to powers under Anti-Social Behaviour legislation to secure remediation works with 28 days. 

The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner stated that he wanted to work closely on the shop front and graffiti issues referenced here. 

It was AGREED to consider further options around enforcement of good shop front maintenance and graffiti clearance at the Board’s meeting in February 2025.

(c)   Public Space Cleaning

The Board was advised of the position in respect of its intended enhanced cleansing regime in the area bounded by Pier Avenue-Rosemary Road-Station Road and of ‘Christmas Tree Island’ in the town centre of Clacton-on-Sea.  In respect of this the Board was informed that Tendring District Council was in the process of re-procuring its waste collection and street cleaning service with a view to a new contract being in place from 1 April 2026. 

While considering this matter, reference was made to plastic bags being placed on the street pavement in Old Road, Clacton-on-Sea and that Gulls would often break into those bags and litter would spill out. 

Other Board members commented up the need to change attitudes to the dropping of litter in order to address this element of the issue 

It was AGREED that a further discussion of the issue of waste collection and street cleansing take place at the February meeting of the Board.

(d)  Banners

The Board was advised about the discussions that were taking place with Essex County Council officials around the ‘permanent’ installation of banners attached to street lamp posts in the Town Centre.  A charge of £6K to facilitate annual checks on the street lighting columns that would have banners affixed was reported to the Board.  The discussions referenced were to continue, including around placing the banners only for defined periods of time.    The sub-group of Board Members who had worked on the designs for the shop wrapping would be brought back together to look at Banner designs, which included Rob Mitchell-Gears and Billy Ball, and seek to link them to the design work for the website.

The update provided was NOTED.