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the end of this time shall be the subject of a written response, copied to all Members the following working day unless withdrawn by the questioner.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 six 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.

 

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

 

Question One

 

From Councillor I J Henderson to Councillor Newton, Portfolio Holder for Business & Economic Growth:

 

“I welcome the fact that the Leader of the Council has appointed the Portfolio Holder for Business and Economic Growth as the lead Member on the UK leaving the EU.

 

With the truly frightening prospect of the UK exiting the EU without a deal becoming a real possibility, I am confident that the Portfolio Holder for Business and Economic Growth will have made it her top priority to ensure that a full and detailed risk assessment for the Tendring District in the case of a ‘no deal exit’ scenario is in place.

 

Will she please advise Members of the conclusions reached in her risk assessment as to how the Tendring District would be impacted by a no deal exit?”

 

Councillor Newton replied as follows:-

 

“Firstly I would like to thank Councillor Henderson for this question and for his vote of confidence.

 

I think we would all agree that it is essential that the Council has fully considered the implications of Brexit, and in particular a No Deal scenario.

 

Officers have, and will continue to, assess the risks and opportunities which may arise and this has been based on guidance from both Government and the Local Government Association.

 

This includes issues such as the EU Settlement Scheme, the role of key ports such as Harwich International, opportunities and challenges for businesses and impacts on the Council itself.

 

I would like to highlight two specific key risks and action that has been taken.

 

Firstly, the Council has the role to provide environmental health services for import and export, mostly in relation to Harwich International Port. Steps are being taken to ensure that the right level of systems, facilities and staff capacity will be in place to ensure service continuity post Brexit and in particular a No Deal scenario.

 

Secondly, working as part of the Essex Resilience Forum, officers have ensured that plans are in place to mitigate potential road congestion to A120 should  Harwich International Port have an increase in freight traffic either through natural growth or as a  national resilience port for Dover.

 

Through the Resilience Forum the Council has also played a lead role in a range of emergency planning scenarios which ‘stress test’ scenarios which could take place in our District, and Essex, as a result of a No Deal Brexit. This includes the provision of mutual aid support from neighbouring Councils.

 

To support those and other actions, the Government has provided funding to the Council.

 

Central to manging risks in relation to Brexit is engaging effectively in order to understand and assess the current position across key issues.

 

The Chief Executive and Senior Officers are actively engaged in national and regional groups and this ensures that the Council is both receiving and providing the most up to date information relevant to Tendring.

 

The Council is also in regular dialogue with businesses and community groups across the district to gauge concerns and develop plans for support where appropriate.

 

I am satisfied that the Council has, and will continue to, plan appropriately for Brexit. It is without doubt both a complex and extremely dynamic environment. As the position becomes clearer I would be happy to provide further detail in a written briefing for all Members in the coming weeks.”

 

Councillor Henderson then asked a supplementary question to which Councillor Newton responded.

 

Question Two

 

From Councillor Calver to Councillor G V Guglielmi, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance & Governance:

 

When the Conservative Group took control of the administration in 2009 it cancelled the plan to turn the Gas House Creek site in Harwich into a public car park and removed the earmarked funding.  The reason given was that the site was needed as employment land to provide much needed jobs in the Harwich area.

 

In the ten years since, not one job has resulted from the change of policy on this site.

 

Will the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance & Governance please advise the Council of any plans he has for this site and when the residents of Harwich can expect it to benefit the local community?”

 

Councillor Guglielmi replied as follows:-

 

“In 2010 the Council was approached by a local business owner looking to expand his business including the creation of new jobs, new commercial activity and retaining diversity of use on the sea frontage. Interest was also expressed by Trinity House whose operational base lies adjacent.

 

After considering a range of options for the site the Council invited bids for the land. Three bids were received and the land was let part to Trinity House and part to a local engineering company.

 

Trinity House continues to occupy the part of the site let to it, making productive use and contributing to the safeguarding of local jobs in line with the decision made by the Council.

 

Unfortunately, and despite expanding rapidly, the engineering company ran into difficulty in 2013 and on 20 January the Council moved to take the site back following the announcement of the liquidation of the company.

 

The Council invited bids once more for the available section of the land. Three bids were received once again and in June 2014 the decision was made to grant a lease to another engineering company whose bid included proposals for offshore services and education facilities.

 

The lease to the new tenant included a break clause that the Council could end the lease in January 2016 if the proposed works and activities on the site were not complete. By October 2015 it was clear that the company had been delayed by various factors. Again the Council considered the option for that part of the site and gave a one year extension to allow the company to make good its undertakings.

 

In January 2017 it was clear that the company had not begun or got consents for the proposed works and officers served a break notice to end the lease. Unfortunately the company resisted the break notice and identified a legal technicality that made the break ineffective.

 

The present situation is that around half of the site remains let to the private company awaiting their action as business needs demand. The other half remains let to Trinity House and is in productive use supporting their work and the ongoing base of their activities in Harwich. Both parts of the land are generating rental income in support of the Council’s wider functions.”

 

Councillor Calver then asked a supplementary question to which Councillor Guglielmi responded.

 

Question Three

 

From Councillor Davidson to Councillor Talbot, Portfolio Holder for Environment & Public Space:

 

“Will the Portfolio Holder for the Environment and Open Spaces please confirm whether or not he advised his Cabinet colleagues at the time of the decision to withdraw the weekly refuse collection service and to replace it with a two weekly ‘amount restricted’ service that this would inevitably lead to a major increase in fly tipping within the Tendring District?”

 

Councillor Talbot replied as follows:-

 

“Thank you for your question, which gives me the opportunity to expand on the overall discussion by the Cabinet prior to the revised service coming into operation.

 

I did NOT advise my Cabinet colleagues that with a two weekly ‘amount restricted’ service that this would inevitably lead to a major increase in fly tipping within the Tendring District because this would not have been true, but what I did say was that it would lead to major increase in the recycling rate for Tendring, which was very low, due largely to former decisions to collect virtually whatever waste a household chose to put out for collection in their Black Sacks destined for landfill.

 

With a two week collection cycle I said that residents would not be able to put 14 days newspapers and magazines in their bin, or put cereal boxes or egg boxes or put food waste, or put plastic bottles, tins and empty food cans in their Wheelie bins because there simply would not be enough room.  Those residents who had always put these items of waste in their Black Sacks would have to start putting such items in recycling boxes.

 

This decision of the Cabinet proved so successful that the stock of 10,000 red and green boxes and the food cadies we held in anticipation of a sudden demand, all went in the first six weeks of the ten week period when ‘wheelie bins’ were being distributed over the District, a demand we are now meeting.  Dare I say it – I had never dreamt that such a large number of our residents did not even bother themselves to recycle at all in the past.

It is of note that we issued 30,000 sets of recycling boxes over the past seven years of the ‘old’ system and now 10,000 boxes were collected by residents in six weeks! 
But on the bright side, it looks very good for Tendring’s recycling effort expressed as a recycling percentage.”

 

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

 

Question Four

 

From Councillor I J Henderson to Councillor Talbot, Portfolio Holder for Environment & Public Space:

 

“Since the imposition of the ‘amount restricted’ refuse collection policy on the residents of Tendring the incidents of fly tipping have soared.

 

Will the Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services please advise the Council of how much fly tipping is costing the council tax payers of the Tendring District?”

 

Councillor Talbot replied as follows:-

 

“Thank you for your question which clearly shows concern for the amount of Fly Tipping in the District, where incidents on public land are the responsibility of my Department.

 

We keep very accurate statistics on incidents of Fly Tipping for reasons I will explain later, but I can inform Cllr Henderson that far from the amount of Fly Tipping increasing, the statistics show a continuing small reduction in this offence:

 

In the year 2016 – 1,477 incidents of Fly Tipping

In the year 2017 – 1,437 incidents of Fly Tipping

In the year 2018 – 1,326 incidents of Fly Tipping

So far in the year 2019 – 723 incidents of Fly Tipping - and the Good News for Cllr. Henderson, for me as portfolio holder, and for the District, is that if fly tipping continues for the remainder of this year, at this same rate, we should be under last year’s total, continuing the annual reduction in successive years.

 

I referred earlier to accurate statistics on Fly Tipping and the reason is that since 31st October 2016 the County Council agreed to compensate local authorities if an increase in Fly Tipping could be linked to the restricted use of their sites, now known as Recycling Centres for Household Waste (RCHW). Tendring has suffered no noticeable increase.

 

People and business should realise that Fly-tipping is a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to £50,000 or 12 months imprisonment if convicted in a Magistrates' Court. The offence can attract an unlimited fine and up to 5 years imprisonment if convicted in a Crown Court. There are also a number of other possible penalties, including fixed penalty notices and having an offending vehicle seized.

 

The second part of your question concerns the cost of fly tipping.

 

 We have two hit teams who respond to matters such as fly-tipping and issues such as litter picking along the A120, open spaces and housing estates, with the cost of the team being £73k per year.

 

It was always expected that the containment of residual waste in wheeled bins should in itself, reduce the general level of litter compared with black sack collections, and along with the introduction of a second ‘hit’ team would provide the Council with flexibility to react to general street cleaning issues including fly-tipping.

 

Although the incidence of fly-tipping does not appear to have increased as I mentioned earlier, the cost is met within this overall budget of £73k, so no additional cost falls to local tax payers. I accept that the incidence of fly-tipping may have an impact on how the ‘hit team’ is deployed, but it is managed within their overall workload and associated budget.”

 

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

 

Question Five

 

From Councillor J Henderson to Councillor Talbot, Portfolio Holder for Environment & Public Space:

 

“Will the Portfolio Holder for the Environment and Open Spaces please provide the figures for both the number of operatives allocated to the ground maintenance team for the Harwich area in 2010 and the number of operatives allocated to the ground maintenance team for the Harwich area in 2019?”

 

Councillor Talbot replied as follows:-

 

“Thank you for your question.

 

The work of the Council’s open space and grounds maintenance team is carried out by a mix of permanent, casual and seasonal staff.

 

The maintenance and improvement of public realm throughout the District of Tendring is the objective and responsibility of the whole team. Team members are moved around as work dictates.

 

All grounds maintenance and open space staff are required to work in any area of the District.

 

If team members are allocated to any specific area it is to ensure service efficiencies in relation to travel and fuel costs and not because they are, and always will be fixed in one area.

 

In 2010 the general allocation of staff for Harwich was five permanent staff with casual and seasonal staff as required.

 

Following the early retirement of one officer in the year 2011-2012 the general allocation of permanent staff in Harwich was reduced to four.

 

However, additional permanent staff from elsewhere in the District as well as additional casual and seasonal team members were provided for Harwich to ensure all work required could be undertaken.

 

The open space and grounds maintenance team have been challenged this year by a shortage of available casual and seasonal staff at times when they were most needed, which has affected not only Harwich but all areas of the District in 2019.

 

Preparations are in place to try to improve staff recruitment for 2020 and beyond.

 

The Council is well aware of the special circumstances around Harwich towards the end of this year 2019 and throughout 2020. Plans, which include additional financial resources as well as additional staff are currently being finalised to ensure the public realm in Harwich not only matches the quality of previous years, but is improved and enhanced to show Harwich at its very best to the many visitors anticipated in 2020.”

 

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

 

Question Six

 

From Councillor Fowler to Councillor Talbot, Portfolio Holder for Environment & Public Space:

 

“I was both amazed and disappointed at the last Council meeting to hear the Portfolio Holder for the Environment’s response to the question asked specifically about the number of fixed penalty notices for dog fouling issued by TDC for the area of Dovercourt Bay seafront and beach.

 

May I ask the Portfolio Holder for the Environment to advise the Council how many fixed penalty notices for dog fouling have been issued in 2019 across the entire Tendring District?”

 

Councillor Talbot replied as follows:-

 

“Thank you for your question which I am pleased to answer which clearly is asked because you feel that owners of dogs who do not pick up their animals faeces, should be made to behave with respect for the community as a whole.

At the last meeting I replied that in respect to the specific question about Dovercourt Bay seafront and the beach area, no fixed penalty notices had been served.  You say you were both amazed and disappointed with my answer. I can assure you that whilst you may have been disappointed with that answer, you should not be amazed to get a truthful answer.

I could have continued by saying that NO fixed penalty notices had been issued in the whole of Tendring, but that was not the question then asked.

Now the question is asked and the truthful answer is NONE.

I reported that we were working towards a new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) detailed in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 making it an offence not to clean up dog mess in certain areas. Under those orders, a person who doesn’t clean up after their dog may face an on-the-spot fine of up to £80 as a fixed penalty notices. If a person refuses to pay they can be taken to the local Magistrates Court for the dog fouling offence and fined up to £1,000.

 

Dog poo is the most unacceptable and offensive type of litter on our public areas. I have considered  the engagement of a team of inspectors to follow round potential law breakers, to witness and photograph offences being committed, so that evidence sufficient to serve an FPN could be obtained, but though investigated we have not gone down that route.”

 

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