Interview with:

·  The Assistant Director of Environmental Services, Steve Goulette; and

·  The Environmental Enforcement Operations Officer, Martyn Jeynes.

The Chairman welcomed the Assistant Director of Environmental Services, Steve Goulette, and the Environmental Enforcement Operations Manager, Martyn Jeynes, to the meeting.  The Committee received a presentation, attached at Appendix A, updating the Committee on the work of the Environmental Enforcement team and the Committee then discussed the following:

·  Although there were more calls regarding nuisance complaints compared to other Environmental Enforcement calls, the time taken to resolve these issues were typically less;

·  There was a greater focus on partnership working with Kent Police, Police Community Support Officers, Kent County Council Wardens and Housing Associations, as part of the Safer Maidstone Partnership; this ensured an intelligence driven response to environmental crimes.  Members agreed that it was important that partnership work with stakeholders continued to ensure continued best value; 

·  Kent Police’s work with the Council with regard to responding to environmental nuisance had increased as a relationship between negative perceptions of the environment and fear of crime had been proven;

·  ‘You Say, We Did’ promotional adverts had been produced as part of a public reassurance campaign.  The Committee asked that these adverts be made available to all Councillors to distribute to local community groups as appropriate to support the Council’s work;

·  Members were concerned about the impact of loud car exhausts and loud car stereos on resident’s perceptions of Maidstone and agreed that the matter should be referred to the Public Reassurance Group for consideration;

·  The Council was applying for ‘full partner’ status with Keep Britain Tidy; this was free to Councils and provided complimentary advertisement materials to help support the Council’s work.  It was felt that the Council’s work in developing a GIS package with regard to environmental crimes would support its application;

·  Noise complaints were considered under statutory nuisance legislation.  A nuisance was not determined by the number of decibels emitted, but considered with regard to its reasonableness, including in relation to time of day, frequency and where appropriate, the sensitivity of the complainant;

·  There had been some problems with the Police contact centre about the remits of the Police and the Council with regard to noise complaints.  A Member noted that it had been unclear who to contact out of hours and the Committee agreed that the telephone number be circulated to Parish Councils and Ward Members; 

·  A review of noise complaints had shown that many had been received from residents as part of an ongoing disputes with their neighbours and mediation services were therefore being promoted as necessary;

·  The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had clarified that the powers initially used to identify car owners under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 were restricted to fly-tipping occurrences and could not be used for car occupants throwing litter out of their car windows.  Dealing with car related litter was more difficult and Keep Britain Tidy was seeking legislation changes to make the owner of the vehicle accountable for any litter dripped from the car;

·  The number of incidences of fly-tipping had increased and it was considered that this was as a result of the downturn in the economy.  The Council was working with businesses to combat fly-tipping from its source.  A fly-tipper had recently been prosecuted and it was hoped this would serve as a notice to would-be fly-tippers;

·  Following a Scrutiny recommendation, officers had explored the use of Smart Water to target fly-tippers, however the Council had not been consulted on a pilot scheme launched by Clean Kent.  Members agreed that the Council should keep abreast of Smart Water developments to see if there were any other opportunities to utilise this technology in the future; and

·  A large number of requests for the reinstatement of the chewing gum boards had been received from young people since their removal; initiatives to target chewing gum disposal continued to be explored.

The Committee congratulated the team for its ongoing work and thanked the officers for an informative presentation.

The web cast from this session is available at:

http://clients.westminster-digital.co.uk/maidstone/archive.aspx

Resolved  That:

a)  The issue of loud car exhausts and car stereos be referred to the Public Reassurance Group;

b)  The partnership work with stakeholders continue to ensure continued best value;

c)  The Environmental Enforcement Team keep abreast of the Smart Water developments to seek opportunities for the Council to use the technology in the future to help prevent fly tipping;

d)  The telephone number for reporting out of hours noise disturbances be distributed to all Parish Councils and Ward Members; and

e)  The ‘You Say, We Did’ promotional adverts be made available to all Councillors for distribution to reinforce the Council’s public reassurance work.