Agenda item

There will a presentation on the rollout of the City Warden Service across the city and how this will benefit the Braunstone Park and Rowley Fields Ward.

Barbara Whitcombe, City Warden Manager provided a presentation on the City Warden service.

Barbara stated that the City Warden service had initially been a pilot project however would now be rolled out to all wards in the city and every ward would have a City Warden from April 12 2010. She added that the Wardens would attend meetings such as Community Meetings and Joint Action Groups. 

A DVD explaining further the services provided by the City Wardens was played.

Barbara informed the Community Meeting that from May 2010, the City Council would be launching a new service whereby members of the public would be able to take a picture of any problem they witnessed such as fly tipping and then send this to the City Council and then the team within the Council that was responsible for the issue would deal with the problem.

Barbara explained that previously residents had identified the priorities for the ward and the City Wardens aimed to work on these areas, These included littering, dog fouling, bins on streets and graffiti. The Wardens also attended events to educate people and work with the community, these included schools, fetes, carnivals and festivals.

The Community Meeting was informed that the City Wardens had recently received funding and had purchased litter pick kits. Residents were informed that if they wished to organise a litter pick in their area then they could contact the City Warden service who would help organise the clean up.

Barbara explained further some of the issues covered by the City Wardens. These included the following:

·        Littering – The City Wardens had attended assemblies in schools across the city to educate children about littering. It was also noted that a juvenile policy would be brought in which would allow fines to be given to young people who dropped litter.

·        Dog Fouling – There had been increased signage informing people of how to dispose of dog waste.

·        Bins on Streets – The procedures to get a resident to remove a bin from the street were explained. If a resident left their bin on the street, a leaflet would be placed through their letterbox. If on the following week the bin had still not been removed then a card would be sent to the resident informing them of services if they had difficulties removing the bins themselves. If the bin had still not been removed the following week then a visit was arranged and if there was still no cooperation after this then a legal notice was served which would result in a fine. The Community Meeting was informed that it cost the Fire Brigade £2,000 to put out a bin fire.

·        Fly posting – It was explained that last year 17,500 fly posters had been removed in the city. Clubs and individuals had also been prosecuted. A licence outlined how much leaflets each venue was allowed to distribute and if these conditions were breached then they would face a fine and their material would be confiscated for a week. 

·        Fly tipping – There were duty of care inspections where the waste disposal procedures of each business were inspected.

·        Graffiti – A fix penalty could be issued if someone was caught doing graffiti. If there was offensive material then this was removed within 24 hours however any graffiti on private property needed the permission of the property owner before it was removed.

·        Nuisance Vehicles – if there were two or more vehicles on the public highway for sale with the same telephone number then the individual selling the vehicles could be prosecuted however in the first instance a note would be placed on the car informing the owner to remove the vehicle.

It was suggested that the City Warden for the Braunstone Park and Rowley Fields ward be invited along to the next Community Meeting.

A resident queried how jackets for the clean up could be obtained. Barbara commented that they could be obtained by phoning Angie Virdee on 0116 2527001.

In response to a query about cardboard, Barbara stated that this could be placed in the normal bin.

A resident raised concern at the dog fouling on the Great Central Way. Barbara commented that people could be fined and encouraged residents to let the Council know if they witnessed any dog fouling.

The Chair thanked Barbara for her presentation.