GENERAL PUBLIC SERVICES AND COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMITTEE - 10
SEPTEMBER 2015
PART I - DELEGATED
6.
FLY-TIPPING ACTION
(CED, DCES)
1.
Summary
1.1
This report provides members with an update on current fly-tipping levels and
responses to this by the Council and the Community Safety Partnership. It
seeks feedback from members on potential further action regarding garage
sites.
2.
Details
2.1
Officers have reviewed fly-tipping data gathered over the last two years by
Environmental Protection to assess the current trends in behaviour. Data has
been analysed from August 2013 to June 2015 allowing for year on year
comparison, and for seasonal variations.
2.2
Graph 1 compares the total amount of fly-tips recorded in the two comparative
years. It shows that there were a total of 475 tips recorded between August
2013 – June 2014, and a total of 756 recorded between August 2014 – June
2015. This shows an increase of 59% in recorded fly-tips.
Comparison of total fly tipping between 2013/14 and 2014/15
100
Total number of incidents
90
80
70
60
2013/14
50
2014/15
40
30
20
10
Ju
ly
Ju
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ay
M
Ap
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ar
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M
Au
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Se
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O
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No
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m
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De
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0
Month
Graph 1: Comparison of recorded fly-tips – August 2013 – June 2015
2.3
Whilst more accurate recording of fly-tips by staff may account for some of the
increase in recorded tips, there is clearly an increase in the number that are
occurring. It should be noted that this data does not included all fly-tips that
occur on Thrive Home areas, as they do not regularly share data, and seek to
remove most of the fly-tips on their land themselves. Similarly it will not include
all tips occurring on private land.
2.4
Concerns have been raised that the changes to recycling centres that came into
effect in January 2015 may have had an impact on the levels of fly-tipping.
However the data shows a clear increase before this point compared to the
previous year and then a downward trend in fly-tips since that point in the
current year. The data is therefore not conclusive on the impact of these
changes.
The majority of tips reported during this period were residential – accounting for
730 tips of the 1285. Commercial tips accounted for 292 tips. The remainder
were a range of tips other than residential or commercial. Graphs 2 and 3 show
the patterns of Commercial and Residential fly-tips by month.
60
50
40
2013/14
30
2014/15
20
10
Ju
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0
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No
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De be r
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M
ar
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Number of residential fly tip incidents
Comparison of Residential fly tipping between 2013/14 and
2014/15
Month
Graph 2: Comparison of Residential fly-tipping – August 2014 – June 2015
30
25
20
2013/14
15
2014/15
10
5
Ju
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Ju
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M
Ap
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ar
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0
M
Number of commercial fly tip incidents
Commercial fly tipping comparison between 2013/14 and
2014/15
Au
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2.5
Month
Graph 3: Comparison of Commercial fly-tipping – August 2014 – June 2015.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
12
13
Ward
South Oxhey
Oxhey Hall and Hayling
Chorleywood South and Maple
Cross
Chorleywood North and Sarratt
Carpenders Park
Abbots Langley and Bedmond
Dickinsons
Rickmansworth Town
Leavesden
Moor Park and Eastbury
Penn and Mill End
Durrants
Gade Valley
Total
Total
Chart 1 shows the breakdown of fly-tips by ward. The four worst affected wards
are South Oxhey, Oxhey Hall and Hayling, Chorleywood South and Maple
Cross, and Chorleywood North and Sarratt. Each of these four wards has a
recorded fly-tip rate of over 1 a week.
Residential
2.7
Commercial
There is a clearer increasing trend in residential fly-tips than there is in
commercial fly-tips. However the lower number of commercial tips may account
for this lack of clear pattern.
Ranking
2.6
20
33
183
137
232
191
49
42
18
18
25
26
11
11
10
21
8
292
69
38
57
50
28
36
24
36
30
18
24
730
157
122
91
89
71
68
61
53
53
49
48
1285
Chart 1: Fly-tips by Ward, August 2013 – June 2015
2.8
Graphs 4-7 show the month by month trends for the four wards with highest flytipping rates. This shows that both South Oxhey and Oxhey Hall & Hayling
wards are predominantly affected by an increasing problem of residential flytipping. The patter in Chorleywood South & Maple Cross shows a mixture of
ongoing Commercial and Residential fly-tipping. The pattern in Chorleywood
North and Sarratt shows a particular increasing problem of Commercial flytipping.
South Oxhey
Number of fly tip incidents
25
20
15
Commercial
Residential
Total
10
5
0
Month/Year
Graph 4: South Oxhey Ward fly-tips August 2013-June 2015
Oxhey Hall & Hayling
20
18
16
14
12
Commercial
10
Residential
8
Total
6
4
2
0
Graph 5: Oxhey Hall & Hayling Ward fly-tips August 2013 - June 2015
Chorleywood South and Maple Cross
Number of fly tip incidents
14
12
10
Commercial
8
Residential
6
Total
4
2
0
Month/Year
Graph 6: Chorleywood South & Maple Cross Ward fly-tips August 2013 – June
2015
Chorleywood North and Sarratt
Number of fly tip incidents
12
10
8
Commercial
6
Residential
Total
4
2
0
Month/Year
Graph 7: Chorleywood North & Sarratt Ward fly-tips August 2013 – June 2015
2.9
Fly-tipping is one of the priorities of the Community Safety Partnership for 201516 due to the data reported in the Strategic Assessment from Environmental
Protection. The following actions have been identified for joint response – and a
summary of progress is included against each action.
Action
Continue to support Community Horse
Patrols in Chorleywood and Sarratt to identify
fly-tip and criminal damage sites
Work with registered social landlords to
ensure tenants obligations around refuse and
communal areas are included.
Vigilance checks by Fire Service
Enforcing fixed penalty notices
CCTV cameras
Progress
Two stables now participating in the scheme
with a total of 12 volunteer riders.
Paradigm Housing has changed its tenancy
agreement to specifically include bin store
and waste rules.
Joint meetings held with Thrive supported by
Environmental Protection to identify solutions
to problems in flat blocks.
Fire service has attended a sample of
premises with Thrive and Environmental
Protection to assess risk and solutions.
Three Rivers District Council has successes
fully prosecuted a number of fly-tippers and
publicised this. We continue to seek
evidence from residents using Twitter. A
total of 3 prosecutions have been secured in
the last year and 60 fixed penalty notices
issued.
The community safety partnership has
funded a number of cameras for
Environmental Protection to use both for
covert operations in areas for Commercial
fly-tipping and overt operations in residential
settings.
2.10
In addition to the above, a range of signage has been purchased using the
Community Safety budget for Environmental Protection to use in hotspot sites
for fly-tipping, warning of fixed penalty notices. These can act as a deterrent
and can be useful in areas where it is difficult to install CCTV equipment.
2.11
The Council is also starting to promote the use of the phone app ‘Love Clean
Streets’ to increase the ease with which residents can report fly-tips to the
Council.
2.12
Evidence on who has been fly-tipped is requested from the public through the
use of the Neighbourhood Watch system known as OWL, and through requests
via the Council’s Twitter feed. Environmental Protection will be reporting via
OWL ward level fly-tip data on a monthly basis.
2.13
Garage sites are an area where there has been some large fly-tips. In some
areas collapsible bollards have been installed at entrances to the garage sites
for the garage users to self-manage the areas. This approach could be adopted
across all garage sites. However there is a cost for installation and key
management. This could be charged through additional rent charges, as could
clearance costs when sites are fly-tipped. Members are asked for a view on this
to guide officer work.
3.
Options/Reasons for Recommendation
3.1
To note the current trends in fly-tipping and the joint work to date.
3.2
To seek members initial views on the installation of collapsible bollards on
garage sites with a view to charging any costs via increases to garage rents.
4.
Policy/Budget Reference and Implications
4.1
The recommendations in this report are within the Council’s agreed policy and
budgets. The relevant policy is entitled the Strategic Plan 2015-18.
4.2
The recommendations in this report relate to the achievement of the following
performance indicators:
CP 07 – Perception to the extent to which publics services are working to make
the area safer
CP 01 – Satisfaction with keeping public land clear of litter and refuse.
CP 05 – Perception of satisfaction with Three Rivers District Council
4.3
The impact of the recommendations on these performance indicator(s) is:
To seek to increase public satisfaction though improved responses to the
current increase in fly-tipping.
5.
Legal, Equal Opportunities, Staffing,
Communications & Website Implications
5.1
None specific.
6.
Financial Implications
6.1
Using the financial model in the Fly-Capture system (which dates back to 2007)
the estimated cost to the Council in clearing fly-tips in the last 12 months for
which data is held is £58,527. A further £36,312 has been spent on
enforcement action. Officers feel this underestimates the actual costs to the
Council due to the model dating back to 2007.
6.2
In 2014/15 the Community Safety Partnership funded the following responses to
fly-tipping from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Grant to the partnership:
Description
Guardcam
Digital recorders
Total spend on fly-tipping
% of total PCC grant
Customer
Services
Centre,
£
£950
£8,750
£9,700
45%
6.3
The Community Safety budget spent £1,455 on fly-tip signage in 2014/15.
7.
Environmental Implications
7.1
The increase in recorded fly-tips by the Council indicates a worsening of the
local environment. A more standardised approach to managing garage sites
could reduce the problem they contribute to fly-tipping.
8.
Community Safety Implications
8.1
Fly-tipping is a priority of the Community Safety Partnership for 2015-16 and is
an area prioritised for expenditure using the Police and Crime Commissioner
Grant.
9.
Public Health implications
9.1
Poor local environments can lead to a deterioration in general public wellbeing
and are a wider determinant of public health outcomes.
10.
Risk Management and Health & Safety Implications
10.1
The Council has agreed its risk management strategy which can be found on
the website at http://www.threerivers.gov.uk. In addition, the risks of the
proposals in the report have also been assessed against the Council’s duties
under Health and Safety legislation relating to employees, visitors and persons
affected by our operations. The risk management implications of this report are
detailed below.
10.2
The subject of this report is covered by the Community Partnerships and
Environmental Protection service plan. Any risks resulting from this report will
be included in the risk register and, if necessary, managed within these plans.
10.3
There are no risks to the Council in agreeing the recommendation.
10.4
The following table gives the risks that would exist if the recommendation is
rejected, together with a scored assessment of their impact and likelihood:
1
10.5
Description of Risk
Failure to achieve community safety targets
Likelihood
E
Of the risks above the following are already included in service plans:
Description of Risk
Failure to achieve community safety targets
1
Service Plan
Community Partnerships
The above risks are plotted on the matrix below depending on the scored
assessments of impact and likelihood, detailed definitions of which are included
in the risk management strategy. The Council has determined its aversion to
risk and is prepared to tolerate risks where the combination of impact and
likelihood are plotted in the shaded area of the matrix. The remaining risks
require a treatment plan.
Likelihood
10.6
Impact
III
A
B
C
D
E
F
1
I
II
III
Impact
IV
V
Impact
Likelihood
V = Catastrophic
A = >98%
IV = Critical
B = 75% - 97%
III = Significant
C = 50% - 74%
II = Marginal
D = 25% - 49%
I = Negligible
E = 3% - 24%
F = <2%
11.
Recommendation
11.1
That members note the update on fly-tipping and action to respond to it.
11.2
That members provide initial views on the proposal to place collapsible bollards
at all garage sites and that officers explore the costs implications of this to
garage rents.
Report prepared by: Shivani Dave, Community Safety Co-ordinator,
Andy Stovold, Head of Community Partnerships
Gareth Williams, Environmental Enforcement Manager
Data Quality
Data sources:
Environmental Protection Fly-tip Data.
Data checked by: Andy Stovold, Head of Community Partnerships
Data rating:
1
Poor
2
Sufficient
3
High
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