Agenda item

To consider the attached report which has been provided at the request of the Overview and Scrutiny Board to provide an outline of BCP Council’s enforcement services.

The report details the various enforcement services across the Communities, Housing, Planning, Transport and Engineering, Destination and Culture, and Environment Directorates. It highlights the successes and challenges faced when taking enforcement action and explores options for enhanced future service delivery.

A presentation from the Director of Communities will accompany this report.

The Chairman introduced the item and the background to why the report had come forward,  a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these minutes in the Minute Book. The Director of Communities explained that enforcement was a major part of the Council’s responsibilities and outlined the key aspects of the report. In the subsequent discussion a number of points were raised including:

·       A Non-Board member noted that several historic issues had been rectified in the last few months but asked about areas where the Council was unable to use enforcement powers and the expectations surrounding this and how this was addressed. The Director advised that it was important to explore all the different options available to the Council and what was the best means to secure the best outcomes. Much of the legislation that the Council had to work with was incredibly out of date.

·       Whether it was still the case, as it was under the previous Bournemouth Council, that the Council was unable to seize goods from street pedlars as there was no provision to store goods securely. Goods had been confiscated from pedlars operating in Bournemouth Town Centre. However, there were issues with capacity, but that legislation had been enforced when possible.

·       Whether the Council was operating successfully as an agency for the DVLA, under the powers to tow vehicles. There was set criteria in place when the Council could tow away vehicles for illegal parking. The Council was working with the DVLA in this regard.

·       Prevention of sleeping on the highway in cars and vans. This was a challenging area which relied on traffic regulation orders which were not consistently in place across BCP. There was a concern raised with this issue and it was hoped this could be given further consideration to address.

·       ‘A’ Boards being used by businesses on the public highway presented an uninsured trip hazard.  

·       Issues concerning enforcement around the seafront and the apparent selective approach to dealing with enforcement issues. This often didn’t present a good picture to residents.

·       Whether further information on the numbers of opportunities for enforcement versus enforcement taken and he number of enforcement cases resulting in prosecution.

·       Communication on issues concerning enforcement was extremely important to residents. There were often difficulties on where responsibilities lie and there should be greater clarity on this.

·       That options outside of enforcement should be explored more fully to address some of the issues.

·       It was suggested that it would be useful to have a dedicated part of the website to address enforcement issues for the public to access the right information, and whether responsibility lied with the Council or Police.

·       A Non-Board member asked about training for officers and the different types of enforcement officers and how the Council responded to intelligence led issues. There were several different teams for different types of enforcement struggling to get around the conurbation and what consideration had been given to more generic enforcement roles.

·       Issues concerning future enforcement were raised including the prohibition of idling near schools and pavement parking and the enforcement of yellow boxes.

·       It would be interesting to see options for what enforcement would be expected to look like in future. For example place based solution rather than task based solutions. 

The Director for Communities noted that there were some opportunities at this point in terms of the transformation programme, quick reporting and the ability to get to right place. These were all issues that formed part of vision for what the Council wanted to try to achieve.

The Chairman thanked the Chief Operations Officer for organising this paper which was much appreciated evidenced by the interest shown by members and also to the Director of Communities and the other officers on the call. The Chairman noted that the Board was clearly interested in a number of areas. However, there was a need for further consideration on which issues could be taken forward and how this would be best achieved. It was noted that there may be an opportunity for a future Task and Finish Group to consider further action.

The meeting adjourned at 8:36pm and resumed at 8:46pm.