Agenda item

The report will seek Cabinet Member approval to engage the services of Kingdom Security Limited to provide a dedicated litter enforcement team initially on a nine month trial, commencing December 2016.

Cabinet Member approval was sought to engage the services of Kingdom Security Limited to provide a dedicated litter enforcement team, on an initial trial basis lasting nine months, to commence in December 2016.

Cllr Carter commented that engaging Kingdom Security Ltd seemed a sensitive issue, in light of a recent newspaper article and the experiences of some other local authorities who had employed Kingdom. As a result, Cllr Carter advised that he approved of adopting a trial period.  In response to a request to ensure that the body cameras used by Kingdom enforcement staff were switched on at all times, officers acknowledged that this would be the case and advised that the purpose of the body cameras was to ensure that there was a record of interactions with members of the public. The Chair advised that body cameras were also used by Civil Enforcement Officers.

Cllr Carter requested clarification on how the process would be monitored and how the trial period would be assessed. The Head of Community Safety and Enforcement advised that he was responsible for monitoring and evaluating the trial period and that the litter enforcement team would report directly to him. The Head of Community Safety and Enforcement also advised that he would be responsible for monitoring the performance of the team and handling any complaints that came through. The Head of Community Safety and Enforcement would review footage from the body cameras in the event that a complaint was received and would therefore, be able to ensure that the body cameras were switched on. The Kingdom enforcement team would be co-located with the Enforcement team and Council staff would have daily interactions with the team, management would ultimately be responsible for tasking Kingdom staff to areas around the borough.

Cllr Carter enquired what the procedure would be for an appeal to one of the Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) issued. The Head of Community Safety and Enforcement advised that the appeal would be made to Kingdom directly, but that part of the escalation process would require management to review the complaint and the accompanying footage if the resident remained unsatisfied.  The Head of Community Safety and Enforcement advised that there was no external body involved in reviewing any complaints received, but that the Council had an existing complaints procedure which could also be utilised in response to any complaints received regarding Kingdom.

Cllr Carter asked officers to give an example of how the process of issuing an FPN worked and sought clarification on the recovery rate involved.  The Head of Community Safety and Enforcement advised that as soon as the officer approached an individual the body camera would be switched on, the officer would then identify himself to the person in question and explain that it was a criminal offence to drop litter or to engage in flytipping. The officer would attempt to secure the details of the person involved and a Fixed Penalty Notice would then be issued. The Chair advised that Kingdom operated in Enfield and had done so for a number of years and also operated in a number of other local authorities including Merton. In addition, officers in Haringey had significant experience carrying out enforcement activity and would be monitoring performance closely during the trial period.

Cllr Carter sought further reassurance that Kingdom enforcement officers wouldn’t just be going after easy targets. The Chair responded that this was pilot programme and that it would be properly evaluated. The Chair also advised that significant work had been undertaken to get to the present stage largely in response to similar concerns expressed by senior officers and the Cabinet Member. In addition, it was noted that various engagement activities had been carried out with community groups in the development of this proposal and that the operational issues had been worked through to get to this stage. Cllr Carter advised that he sought to have his concerns placed on record and would come back to review the process at the conclusion of the trial period.  The Chair commented that she would be holding regular meetings with the management team to monitor and evaluate the pilot scheme and requested that Members feed through any concerns that arose with the scheme through to herself and the AD Community Safety and Operational Services. A review would take place prior to the conclusion of the pilot scheme to look at how the pilot scheme was working and how enforcement was undertaken as a whole going forward.

In response to a concerns regarding targets and financial incentives to Kingdom for issuing FPN’s,  The Head of Community Safety and Enforcement advised that the team would be tasked with operating in hotspot areas for dumping and litter and stated that there were no targets or financial incentives for issuing FPN’s. The Chair reiterated that as a pilot, Members and residents should put forward any concerns or issues that they had and that these would be considered as part of the evaluation process. 

RESOLVED

      I.        That CSO 9.01 is waived in accordance with CSO 10.01.1(a) on the basis set out in CSO 10.01.2(d)(ii);

    II.        That a contract with an estimated value of £120,000 is awarded to Kingdom Security Limited (“Kingdom”) to provide a litter enforcement team for a nine month trial period, commencing in December 2016, including a provision whereby Kingdom have the function of giving, and for it and its employees to be authorised to give fixed penalty notices (“FPN”s) for littering. The arrangement with Kingdom is designed to be cost neutral and possibly income generating.

   III.        That Kingdom be thereby given the function pursuant to s88(10)(b) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (“the Act”) of giving FPNs under s88(1) of the Act, and authorised to do so.

  IV.        That Kingdom be thereby given the function pursuant to s59(11) of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 (“CNEA”) of giving FPNs under s59(2) of CNEA, and authorised to do so.

Reasons for decision

The latest residents’ survey shows that litter and dog mess are the main concerns for residents when considering environmental issues.

The Tidy Britain Group has confirmed that enforcement has an important role to play in reducing litter and altering behaviour.

Kingdom will provide a uniformed warden service providing a visible deterrent against littering and an enforcement function through the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) for contravention of the Environment Protection Act 1990 and the Fouling of Land by Dogs (London Borough of Haringey) Order 2013.

The wardens will offer a highly visible uniformed presence on the street, providing additional reassurance to the public and can assist the police, retail security staff and the public with curtailing and reducing low level crime. A dedicated enforcement team will enable the council’s officers to focus on strategic enforcement and together they will deliver the following outcomes:

·         a more efficient and effective service by adopting a targeted  intelligence led approach;

·         cleaner streets;

·         less fly tipping and dumped trade waste;

·         less litter on our streets and front gardens;

·         an increase in the perception of the risk of being caught, resulting in changing behaviours;

·         improved enforcement levels; and

·         improved public confidence, increasing resident and trader satisfaction and greater civic pride.

It will significantly increase the amount of FPNs issued in the borough providing a real noticeable deterrent. In 15/16 we issued 586 litter related FPNs, Kingdom estimate that they would issue 3440 annually.

A high profile litter enforcement team will play a key role, alongside education, in behaviour change - raising the profile of littering as an anti-social behaviour and increasing the perception of risk to those who drop litter.  This will be particularly key in the context of the reductions in the street cleansing service in the past 2-3 years as a result of successive phases of savings.  Intelligence on poor street cleansing performance within specific categories of roads will be used to target the litter enforcement resource to deliver improvements in cleanliness. 

This proposal will align with the Team Noel park project. That project aims to take an innovative approach to delivering neighbourhood improvements, led and sustained by the community. The aim is to transform the relationship between the community and Council so that residents assume an element of responsibility toward their neighbourhood rather than seeing it as solely the Council’s responsibility. The proposed launch of the new team in July will coincide with a number of activities within Noel Park which will include a resident led poster campaign against fly tipping and a number of community initiatives based around a waste amnesty day.

The launch of the pilot will be accompanied by a communications campaign which highlights how the vast majority of people are proud of where they live, hence will no longer tolerate the tiny minority of people who fly-tip or litter. The message will be carried forward in posters, a press release, on social media and in positioning pieces. It will be backed up with ongoing communications which shows what the council is doing on enforcement and how the community can help, for example by reporting problems and sharing intelligence.  

Alternative options considered

We have explored the option of providing the service in-house but this could not be achieved within the current staffing structure. We do not have the officers nor the management structure and experience to deliver the littering “swot team” that Kingdom can provide. Not only will current resources not allow us to offer the service, we are seeking to make savings as part of the MTFS from that service.

We researched enforcement models at the London Boroughs of Enfield, Hackney and Newham. The London Borough of Enfield uses Kingdom. The previous Cabinet member for Communities and Environment met with officers from Enfield. Enfield, similar to a number of other local authorities, has recognised the benefits of utilising a private contractor:                     

•          Contributes to clean streets which is a key council and resident priority

•          Contributes to improvement of street scene

•          Uniformed visible presence

•          Reassurance and deterrent

•          Cost neutral service

•          Reduction in Council administrative support needed