To deal with questions under Council Procedure Rule number 11.1
Minutes:
The following questions had been submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.1 and answers given:
a) Question from Councillor Crooks to the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services
“Would the portfolio holder please advise me if our waste management team will adopt the new policy brought in by Central Government, where councils are allowed to issue on the spot fixed penalty notices to small time fly tippers? Would he also confirm that local authorities will be able to recoup all prosecution costs should we take large fly tippers to court, under the new legislation?”
Response from Councillor Nickerson:
“I can confirm that the Executive agreed to the introduction of a new fixed penalty notice for fly tipping on 29 June.
The legislation under which we would take large scale fly tippers to court has not changed. We always seek to recover costs of prosecuting fly tippers, however the amount recovered is at the discretion of the magistrate”.
b) Question from Councillor Bray to the Executive Member for Town & Urban Communities
“It is regrettable that the Co-op store and it’s car park was allowed to close. The car park in particular was used by people visiting Castle Street. Its closure has had an impact on businesses in the area and in addition on local residents living in the streets nearby who have seen an increase in parking in their streets. Could I urge the Lead Member to do all he can to get this car park re-opened as quickly as possible?”
Response from Councillor Ladkin:
“HBBC did not allow the Co-op Store to close. It was closed by a sovereign decision of the Management of the Heart of England Co-operative Society.
We have repeatedly asked the Co-op to allow us to operate this car park thus keeping it open to shoppers visiting Hinckley. This Council successfully operated the Britannia centre car park last year when the owners went into receivership. For reasons known only to themselves, the Co-op will not allow this to happen.
We continue to look at alternative methods to open this car park.”
c) Question from Councillor Bray to the Executive Member for Town & Urban Communities
“Could the Lead member for town centres look again at his administration’s decision to extend car park charges to 6pm in the evening? This has a huge impact on local residents living in the town centre who have no alternative but to park in nearby public car parks when they come home from work as there is no available on-street parking”.
Response from Councillor Ladkin:
“As Councillor Bray will be aware, this change was consulted on as part of the changes to the parking places order which were implemented in May. No adverse comments about this change were received. I am also not aware of any complaints received by the Council about this change.
If Councillor Bray considers this to be a substantial problem then we can introduce a limited number of residents evening permits for long stay car parks which would permit residents to park from 4pm to 8.30am. A small charge of £25 per year per permit would be needed to cover the administration of this scheme.
Another option would be for Councillor Bray as a county councillor to request LCC look again at introducing a residents parking scheme in this area as this would benefit residents at all times of the day.”
In response to a supplementary question from Cllr Bray, Cllr Ladkin confirmed that his house had a driveway.
d) Question from Councillor Witherford to the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services
“My question relates to the Garden Waste Service Charge. On the HBBC Website it states that payments would be accepted from 29th February 2016, with a need to pay by 1st April 2016, to ensure the collections continue uninterrupted, allowing 10 working days for the payment sticker to arrive. A press release was published on 19th April 2016, announcing that the Council would continue to collect all brown bins during April, but from 9th May garden waste bins would not be collected unless they display the payment sticker.
I understand that this press release was issue to try to increase the uptake of the service, however my question relates to the renewal dates for the service in 2017.
Do we assume that those residents who had signed up originally have a renewal date of 1st April, and those who reacted positively to the press release renew on 9th May?
Or are all renewals from 1st April? In which case those who reacted to the press release would have paid for 12 months service with only 11 months actual paid collection and those who paid as from 1st April had in fact overpaid by one month due to all residents getting a free continued service during April.
If there are in fact two renewal dates then surely the administration charge to set up and accommodate these two different systems outweighs the benefit to the revenue account?
Would Cllr Nickerson agree that the renewal date should be 9th May 2017, with the benefit going to those residents who complied with the original instruction?
Can Cllr Nickerson also advise Council of the increase in fly tipping, both in numbers and costs, since this new initiative which necessitated the publication of yet another recent press release?”
Response from Councillor Nickerson:
“Residents were notified of the charging system from early March with a flyer in every council tax notification, giving plenty of opportunity to sign up. By slightly extending the period into May, we achieved a significant further uptake benefitting all residents from the increased contribution towards the cost of the service. Residents were signing up throughout March and April whilst continuing to receive the full service. I can confirm there is only one renewal date – all residents need to sign up by 1 April 2017 for their service to continue without interruption. There will be no variation to this next year as we will commence taking payments much earlier, and residents will have had ample opportunity to sign up before 1 April. Can I also take this opportunity to ask all members to encourage residents to register now to pay for this service by direct debit in future years. This is the easiest payment method for residents and their subscription is automatically renewed following notification of the cost.
As Councillor Witherford will be aware, because of changes to the way LCC is operating its recycling centres it is difficult to attribute any changes in fly tipping levels solely to the garden waste service. Fly tipping is also on the increase nationally and across Leicestershire. The fly tipping levels for the last three years are:
April – June 2014: 90
April – June 2015: 124
April – June 2016: 161.
Scrutiny has requested further analysis of fly tipping and this will be reported in October.
Where we do get incidents of garden waste fly tipping, we are using “report it” cards to ensure residents are aware that this is fly tipping and to encourage them to sign up to the brown bin service, but these have been few and far between. We will continue to monitor the situation and take action to deter all types of fly tipping.”
By way of supplementary question, Cllr Witherford asked if an increase to the charge could be ruled out for the following year. The Executive member confirmed that an increase could be ruled out.
Councillor Wright arrived at 6.40pm.