Adrian Russell, Environmental Services, will give a presentation of the Environmental Services work carried out in the Knighton ward and invite suggestions for the 10,000 Trees Project.
Minutes:
Adrian Russell, Service Director, Environmental Services gave a presentation on Environmental Services in the Knighton Ward.
Adrian stated that there were a wide range of services offered in areas such as waste management, street cleaning, environmental health, trading standards, licensing and building control and parks and green spaces. He added that there would be a newsletter to take away after the presentation, which would provide further information.
Information was provided on refuse collection and waste recycling in the area. Adrian commented that there were two community recycling centres available in the city. There was currently a weekly kerbside collection operated which collected recyclables and residual waste and there was also a bulk collection service. Adrian reported that there had been 1, 564 missed bin collections citywide between January and June 2008, this was at an average of 71 per ward with the number of bins not collected in the Knighton ward being 100 which was higher than the average. There had also been 1,000 bulk collections. Adrian mentioned that any missed bins should always be collected the next day as long the Council were told.
Statistics were presented on how much waste was being recycled, composted and diverted from landfill between January and June 2008. Adrian commented that currently 33% of waste was being recycled and composted and 9% of waste was being recovered and used as fuel. This meant that currently 42% of waste was being diverted from the landfill. Adrian stated that the target was to divert 60% from the landfill and they hoped to achieve that target this year.
Data was presented on Cleansing Services. Adrian reported that there had been 1,608 fly tipping incidents in the city, which averaged out at 73 per ward. In the Knighton ward there had been 58 fly tipping incidents reported which was below the city wide average. There had been three reported abandoned vehicles in the Knighton Ward. It was also mentioned that there had been 1 incident reported of discarded needles and 11 incidents reported of Graffiti removal in the Knighton ward, which were both below the city wide average.
Street cleanliness inspections had found that the Knighton ward had average cleanliness rates compared to citywide averages with regards to litter, graffiti, fly posting and fly tipping. Adrian commented that the inspections depended on how the streets chosen to be inspected looked on the day when the assessments were carried out.
Adrian commented that with regards to graffiti on the green cable boxes they had reached an agreement with Virgin Media who owned the boxes to provide some funding to help clear up the graffiti. However Virgin Media had stated that there were only 1,000 green boxes in the city whereas this figure was thought to be much higher.
Statistics were presented on incidents concerning rubbish and litter on private land, pest control and dog wardens and how the Knighton ward compared in all these areas compared to citywide from January to June 2008. There had been no reported incidents of rubbish in alleyways and six reported incidents of rubbish on private land in the Fosse ward, which was higher than the citywide average. There had also been a reported incident of vacant or derelict premises in the Knighton ward however this was lower than the citywide average.
With regards to pest control, Adrian mentioned that there had been more reported incidents of rats than any other pest in the Knighton ward however most reports of all pests were lower than the citywide average.
There had been three reports of stray dogs in the ward, eight reports of noisy dogs and three reported incidents of dog fouling. All of the incidents mentioned were lower than the citywide average. Adrian stated that from September 2008 there would be Dog Control Orders introduced which would mean there would be tougher powers to deal with problems such as removal of do faeces, keeping dogs on a lead when instructed to do so and the exclusion of dogs from entering play areas across the city.
Information was presented on the Council’s noise control service. The service was operated 9am – 2am Monday to Friday and 2pm – 2am Saturdays and Sundays. Adrian mentioned that this was one of the most busiest services and that reported incidents of Noise problems was lower in the Knighton ward than the citywide average with domestic noise being one of the most reported problems.
With regards to Licensing in the area, Adrian reported that there had been two applications granted to sell alcohol, this was for the Off Licence and Lockwoods Tea Rooms both on Allendale Road.
With regards to Business Regulation in the area, Adrian reported that Blossoms Day Nursery, Sir Jonathon North Community College and The Regency Hotel all had the best SmileSafe reports in the area, which related to cleanliness when serving food.
Adrian mentioned that the earth tremor that had previously occured had meant there were over 100 call outs for the dangerous buildings department to deal with the maintenance of buildings across the city.
Adrian informed everyone that there was a new initiative from the Council to plant 10,000 trees over the next 3 years and there was currently a public consultation underway with regard to this. He added that there had already been 1,500 trees planted as part of initiative and encouraged members of the public to provide suggestions as to where the other 8,500 could be planted.
A member of the public queried why wasn’t there a local planning law that if a tree interfered with anything then it had to be taken down. Adrian commented that it was an admirable suggestion and he would speak to the planning department to see what could be done.
A member of the public raised concern that the green boxes that were used to store recyclable waste were in danger of going missing as the people who came to collect waste were throwing them all over the pavement. Adrian mentioned that Biffa who were the company behind waste collection had conducted a customer satisfaction survey and they had received a lot of feedback in relation to this problem. He added that the complaints had gone down and they would be conducting another survey in the near future.
A member of the public queried why restaurants open up so quickly again after they had been shut down. Adrian commented that a lot of these problems were down to new businesses and as long as the premises had permission they thought they could run the business. He added that the Council had run an education awareness course to help businesses and that the Council had to be informed if anyone was starting a new business.
A member of the public queried how many inspections were there per week of restaurants. Adrian commented that there were 20 to 30 inspections per week.
The Chair queried whether there used to be a setup where the street cleaning people followed the waste collection services. Adrian commented it was difficult to coordinate the services in order to get street cleaning to follow waste collection.
The Chair thanks Adrian for his presentation.