Minutes:
The Leader introduced the
report and stated that following an initial trial period in 2016,
the Council had entered into a contract with Kingdom for litter
enforcement, and this contract was now due for renewal. He
explained that the Council had introduced enforcement notices for
issues such as littering, as residents had often raised issue with
the amount of litter and dropped cigarette ends in their
communities. He added that this problem also looked terrible and
cost the Council money. The Leader mentioned that since 2016 when
the contract had begun, Thurrock’s Keep Britain Tidy (KBT)
scores had continually improved, partly due to the enforcement
notices, and also due to the hard work of the street cleaning and
highways teams.
The Leader stated that enforcement notices were handed out for
offences such as littering, dropping cigarette ends, spitting and
other anti-social behaviour, and the Council had kept the maximum
level of fine. He stated that the Council averaged 3000 tickets per
year, and if people chose not to pay their tickets, Thurrock would
take those people to court. He stated that Thurrock had taken
approximately 520 people to court last year for failure to pay
their enforcement fines. The Leader explained that there was a
number of options for contract renewal, which included bringing the
service in-house and procuring the contract on the open market. He
stated that if the service was brought in-house this could increase
risks such as increased staffing cost and recruitment costs. He
stated that the current contract did not cost the tax-payer money,
as all money raised through enforcement fines paid for the service,
and any surplus allowed the team to pursue additional activities,
such as late night patrolling of car parks for nitrous oxide users,
and late night fly-tipping patrols.
The Leader stated that the Council had received a good service from
the current provider, and although enforcement of offences such as
littering had been paused during the pandemic, Kingdom officers had
continued their work by ensuring local residents were adhering to
social distancing measures, and essential shops were COVID
compliant. He stated that Kingdom officers also patrolled street
drinking in Grays, and had reduced the
number of people street drinking since
2019.
Councillor Watkins echoed the Leader’s comments and felt that
Kingdom had undertaken good work throughout their contract period.
He thanked the street cleaning teams for their hard work across the
borough. He stated that Thurrock had undertaken lots of work to
ensure there were more bins across in Thurrock that were located in
the right places, and urged residents to use these bins. He
summarised and thanked the street cleaning team and Kingdom
officers for their hard work every day, including during the
pandemic.
Councillor Maney supported the recommendations made in the report
and felt that the KBT scores, and Thurrock’s Clean It, Cut
It, Fill It policies had been one of the biggest success stories.
He stated that residents often raised the issue of environmental
crime, such as littering, to Councillors and felt it was good to
see these issues were being addressed and enforced. The Leader
agreed and felt that although it would be difficult to achieve
litter-free streets, this was what Thurrock should aim for.
RESOLVED: That Cabinet:
1. Noted the content contained within the report.
2. Agreed to delegate the authority for the tender and subsequent
award of a new contract for Environmental Enforcement Services on a
payment by results basis to the Director of Environment, Highways
and Counter Fraud in conjunction with the Director of Finance,
Governance and Property, and the Cabinet Member for Public
Protection and Anti-Social Behaviour, based on Option 3 (3.3 of the
report) as recommended by Cleaner, Greener and Safer Overview and
Scrutiny Committee.
Reason for decision: as outlined in report.
This decision is subject to call-in.
Supporting documents: