Agenda item

Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council can ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of any Committee.

 

The time allocated for receiving and disposing of questions shall be a maximum of 30 minutes. Any question not disposed of at the end of this time shall be the subject of a written response, copied to all Members the following working day unless withdrawn by the questioner.

 

There are four such Questions on this occasion.

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

 

Four questions had been submitted by Members as set out below:

 

Question One

 

From Councillor Morrison to Councillor Talbot, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Public Space:

 

“The Harwich Peninsula continues to suffer a high level of dog fouling.  In a recent response to a written complaint from a resident, TDC informed her:

 

‘Our officers regularly patrol the seafront area and will take enforcement action against any individuals who fail to comply with the Dog (Fouling of Land) Act (Fixed Penalty Notice will be issued for failing to pick up dog poo)’.

 

Will the Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services please advise the Council how many fixed penalty notices have been issued for offences committed on Dovercourt Seafront or Dovercourt Bay beach in 2019 up until the date of writing (7^th June)?”

 

Councillor Talbot replied as follows:

 

“The Dog Wardens have not issued a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) during 2019 for dog fouling in the area but as previously stated “they will” take the appropriate action if they witness such an offence take place. 

 

If the Dog Warden does not witness the offence taking place and has no supporting evidence produced or available i.e. CCTV or a Mobile Phone recording then it is very difficult to prove somebody has committed an offence and therefore an FPN is unable to be issued.

 

The area is patrolled on a regular basis and a Patrol spreadsheet is kept within the department listing the exact days and times the wardens was in the area. To date there have been 35 visits to this area at different times during the working day.

 

There are only two Dog Wardens employed by Tendring District Council and they are responsible for covering and patrolling the whole District but also have other duties such as the collection of stray dogs (a constant active and unpredictable duty), attending the vets with injured or unwell dogs, micro chipping, transporting dogs from our kennels to our externally contracted kennels, attending events, working with external agencies such as the RSPCA, Dogs Trust, Essex Police, responding to dog barking and other dog related nuisance complaints and various other daily duties.

 

With the summer here we appreciate that lighter early mornings and lighter late evenings provide more hours for dog walking, so we will be conducting some patrols outside of the normal office hours to show a presence and take action against those that do ignore their responsibility to pick up after their dog.

We are also working towards replacing the old Bye-Laws regarding dog fouling with a new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO). 
At the point we introduce the new PSPO then Parish and Town Councils, such as Harwich, will be able, after receiving appropriate training, to issue FPN tickets for dog fouling offences themselves.”

 

Councillor Morrison then asked a supplementary question to which Councillor Talbot responded.

 

Question Two

 

Earlier in the meeting Councillor Broderick, as a point of information, had informed Council that she was a member of the Citizens Advice Bureau Tendring.

 

From Councillor M E Stephenson to Councillor Broderick, Portfolio Holder for Independent Living:

 

“This June the BBC have taken away the TV licence to the over 75's in what I can only call a money-grabbing exercise that shows no moral conscience for those faced with isolation and loneliness daily. The BBC, in an attempt to smokescreen its blatant disregard for viewers over that of money, has graciously offered that anyone over the age of 75 and on pension credit will still be entitled to a free TV licence.

 

With this in mind will the Cabinet member for Independent Living agree with me that we need to make every effort to raise the profile of the availability of Pension Credit to residents? Furthermore, will she work closely with Citizen Advice Bureau to increase the uptake of Pension Credit and to ensure that our pensioners get what they are entitled to?”

 

Councillor Broderick replied as follows:

 

“Thank you Councillor Stephenson for your question and I agree it is a good idea to promote the availability of Pension Credits. The Council is talking to both CAB and CVST about this.

 

I can confirm that the CAB promotes any specific changes to Pension Credits and other benefits. As an example, recently in May 2019, there were changes to couples entitlement to Pension credit which were promoted on the CAB reception information display screen, Twitter and Facebook accounts and leaflets and posters were produced for clients.

 

In addition when the advisers meet residents of pensionable age, they are assessed for their eligibility for Pension Credit. Events are also used as an opportunity to raise the profile of Pensions Credit, such as the Older Person’s Fair, U3A and local carnivals.

 

If Members would find it useful, posters can be provided for Councillors to promote the take up of Pension Credit for their constituents. If any Member would like a poster please contact Lizzie Ridout.

 

Thank you.”

 

Question Three

 

From Councillor Barry to Councillor Talbot, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Public Space:

 

“Is the Cabinet Member with responsibility for the Environment and Public Space satisfied with the planning and implementation of the new council strategy for waste collection and recycling?”

 

Councillor Talbot replied as follows:

 

“You ask if I am satisfied with the planning and implementation of the new waste service, a service that involves the distribution of over 57 thousand 180 litre Wheelie Bins to households around our Tendring District. These Bins are being delivered to properties that can physically accommodate a Bin and in each Bin is a calendar of the fortnightly dates when their Bin will be collected.

 

In addition over 11 thousand households have been notified of that they will continue with the Weekly Black Sack collection they previously enjoyed, but informing them of their changed collection date.  Yes I am satisfied!

 

The Planning for the new waste and recycling service first started on 22^nd August 2016 with the first working group meeting held in Weeley Council Chamber. Many options were considered. We could stay as we were with a weekly Black Sack service, we could have a fortnightly or even three weekly refuse collections, with co-mingled, unsorted recycling, with or without glass or leave recyclable material to be separated by the resident. We had concern about keeping the cost in check and the need to increase our recycling effort through increased participation.
The best option meeting these objectives was a fortnightly waste collection using a Wheelie Bin, but leaving weekly food waste and the alternate weekly collection of our red and green recycling boxes.

 

Nothing is ever perfect and there is no magic wand to wave. This task is absolutely enormous since it involves 69,478 households in Tendring.
I cannot deny that there have been problems, but these were expected. Some deliveries have been missed, some black sack households were not informed of a changed date for collection causing confusion and in many areas the normal collection services were disrupted, delayed or in some cases missed out altogether.
An unexpectedly large number of households not previously recycling came forward to collect a red or green box, to the extent that we actually ran out of our stock of 10,000 recycling boxes.

 

The telephone enquiry lines have been difficult to use to contact the Council, notwithstanding the employment of additional and transferred staff to help, it has remained difficult to get in contact. Over the delivery period so far we have experienced an additional 1,800 phone calls per week.

 

The Bin deliveries themselves are continuing, and thanks to the compete commitment of our Waste and Recycling staff, led by Mr Jonathan Hamlet and his team, (who are accompanying all Bin deliveries); they are able to ensure as few ‘missed properties’ as possible.

 

My understanding is that only three authorities in Essex still use Black Sacks as their main means of Waste collection. At the end of this month there will be only two. 
Experience from colleagues in other authorities is that the introduction of Wheelie Bins is a bit traumatic, with many problems and complaints for almost a year, but from then onwards the vast majority of residents who have a Wheelie Bin are very happy, with them asking why they did not have them earlier.

 

Yes there have been problems, which will gradually be sorted out. But with a dedicated staff working their socks off for us to minimise problems when they occur, I must admit that I find - all that can be done, is being done!”

 

Councillor Barry then asked a supplementary question to which Councillor Talbot responded.

 

Question Four

 

From Councillor Steady to Councillor Talbot, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Public Space:

 

“Do you think that your portfolio is being managed efficiently?”

 

Councillor Talbot replied as follows:

 

“Since this is the first ever question received by any Tendring Portfolio Holder from a member of the Shadow Cabinet, I must be positive with my answer.

 

I was invited to take up the Environment Portfolio by Councillor Neil Stock, the Council Leader on 5^th June.

 

The Environment Portfolio Holder in the last administration from 2015 to 2019 left the portfolio in good health and ready for a new administration appointee to pick up the duties.

 

The question seems simple and since it asks for my opinion and not that of any third party then my answer to the question is: Yes”

 

Councillor Steady then asked a supplementary question to which Councillor Talbot responded.