Agenda item

There will a presentation on the rollout of the City Warden Service across the city and how this will benefit the Abbey Ward.

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

Barbara explained that the City Warden service had initially been a pilot project that would now be rolled out to all wards in the city and every ward would have a City Warden from 12 April 2010.

Barbara informed the Community Meeting that from May 2010, the City Council would be launching a new service called “One Clear Leicester” whereby members of the public would be able to take a picture, send it to the City Council and then the team within the Council that was responsible for the issue would deal with the problem as quickly as possible.

Barbara explained that previously residents had identified the priorities for the ward and the City Wardens aimed to work on these areas along with problem hotspots they identified themselves when patrolling. These included littering, dog fouling, bins on streets and graffiti. The Wardens provided educational events and worked with the community, included school visits, carnivals and festivals.

Barbara said that the City Wardens had recently purchased litter pick kits to be used in Big Tidy Up litter picks across the city. Residents were informed that if they wanted to organise a litter pick in their area then they should contact the City Warden service who would help organise the clean up. The best contact for this was Angela Vodi on 2527001.

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

Barbara explained further some of the issues covered by the City Wardens:

·        Littering – The City Wardens had attended assemblies in schools across the city to educate children about littering.

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

·        Bins on Streets – Barbara stated that fines were not issued to residents leaving their bin on the street straight away, only after the following process:

Week 1: a leaflet was posted through the door that informed the resident of the issue

Week 2: a card was posted through the door that informed the resident of services available if they had difficulties removing the bin

Week 3: a visit would be arranged from Council Officers.

If there was still no co-operation after a visit, only then would a legal notice be served resulting in a fine.

·        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 and club promoters in Sheffield no longer put up posters in Leicester as they were removed so quickly. 

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

·        Graffiti – A fixed penalty could be issued if someone was caught writing graffiti. Offensive material was removed within 24 hours, however it could take longer for the removal of other graffiti especially if on private property, as permission of the property owner was required 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. In the first instance a note would be placed on the car asking the owner to remove the vehicle. The Wardens could also deal with vehicles in disrepair left on the highway.

A resident asked whether anything could be done to prevent parking on grass verges as he had reported a problem with this to a housing officer and was concerned about the size of ridges created on the verges. Barbara advised that criminal damage to the verges was dealt with by the Highways section and obstruction dealt with by the police. If criminal damage was done City Wardens had the power to issue a fine and recoup costs.

A concern was raised that people repairing their cars could be unfairly penalised. Barbara explained that action would only be taken against businesses or if there was a persistent issue with a vehicle over time. If a car repair business were being operated from a residential address this would be passed to the planning team to enforce.

A resident raised a concern about drainage problems at two car wash businesses on Abbey Lane, where water was spilling out of the premises on to the street. Barbara advised that the City Wardens could inspect the site and pass details to the pollution & planning teams to investigate it further.

The Chair thanked Barbara for her presentation.