Agenda item

To receive an annual report and presentation.

Members received a presentation from Ayeisha Kirkham, the Chair of the Lincolnshire Environmental Crime Partnership (LECP) who was also the Council’s Head of Service (Public Protection) on the Lincolnshire Environmental Crime Partnership Annual Report for 2023 and the work undertaken by the LECP. 

Ms Kirkham had been the Chair of the LECP since November 2020.

The Vice-Chair was Stuart Hoyle who was a Waste Crime Engagement Specialist at the Environment Agency.

Communications Lead was Molly-Mae Taylor who worked at South Kesteven

Secretarial Support was undertaken by Paige Monaghan from PCC

Andrew Beaver was the LECP Chairman of the Enviro Crime Officers Working Group (Community Safety Manager at South Kesteven)

Members were informed of the beginning of the partnership which started in 2019 when the Police Crime Commissioner (PCC) got a group of partners to sign a pledge to work together to tackle fly tipping.  Fly tipping was raised frequently at meetings including the Lincolnshire Safer Partnership as it was a crime and something that needed to be addressed. At this time, although actions and plans had been made, due to Covid, projects weren’t progressed.

The catalyst for the formation of the LECP was Summer 2020 when fly tipping had increased and there had been large scale fly tipping on farmland at Norton Disney and Leadenham in North Kesteven and also in Fulbeck at Pottergate Road within South Kesteven.   The Committee were informed that at a recent Cabinet meeting a Public Space Protection Order had been put in place at Pottergate Road where a gate had been erected across the road to restrict access.

The Council had a responsibility to remove fly tipping on public land but not on private land and the 40 tonne fly tipping instances had massive financial implications for the farmers concerned also at a time when Covid restrictions still applied.   Following the instances of the fly tipping at North and South Kesteven and the partnership working that followed between North and South Kesteven, the Police and the Environment Agency the Strategic Officers Waste Group and Lincolnshire Waste Partnership were approached to see if an Environmental Crime Partnership could be established.  It was agreed that the Lincolnshire Environmental Crime Partnership could be established which reported to the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership, other partners also kept watch on the work of the LECP such as the Safer Lincolnshire Partnership.

The partnership was formed in November 2020 and had a Terms of Reference, Action Plan and an Information Sharing Agreement, which was one of the first in the Country and had been written by the Police and was seen as Best Practice.  The Partnership consisted of a wide range of partners not just regulatory partners (Local Authorities) but representatives from land owners and other partners impacted from environmental crime

An Environmental Crime Officers Working Group had also been established which fed into the LECP and received presentations from other bodies such as Lincolnshire Legal Services and the use of Section 108 of the Environment Act 1995.

The aim of the partnership was to:

“To reduce and prevent fly tipping across Lincolnshire, by bringing all relevant agencies together and working in partnership.

To seek to find new and innovative methods for closer working, both operationally and strategically.”

Members were referred to the link within the report which would take them to the Environmental Crime Partnership Annual Report which sat within the officer for the Police and Crime Commissioner website under the tab for transparency and the page on environmental crime.

Ms Kirkham then spoke about the Annual Report 2023.

Membership of the Lincolnshire Environmental Crime Partnership was wide ranging and included the District Councils within Lincolnshire together with other organisations such as Lincolnshire Police, Humberside Police, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, the Forestry Commission, the Ministry of Defence, Lincolnshire Police & Crime Commissioner, the National Trust, National Farmers Union, Country Business and Land Association, Witham and Humber Drainage Boards and the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency. There were 23 members of the LECP.

The work of the partnership was promoted widely with members of the partnership giving presentations at events such at the Environmental Services and Solutions Expo in Birmingham. 

One of the ambitions of the partnership was to share best practice and the Chair and Vice-Chair of the LECP had been involved in the National Fly Tipping Prevention Group which had resulted in the development of the Fly Tipping Partnership Framework which included Best Practice from the LECP. Regular meetings of the LECP were held at least quarterly with speakers who came in to give presentations such as the Probation Service and the Environment Agency Chief Scientist Group.

To help raise awareness representatives from the LECP also attended the Lincolnshire Show (2023) and held a competition to which school children investigated a fake fly tipping incident.  Leaflets, posters and information were all available with contact details for the specific areas.   It was hoped to continue the engagement by attending again in 2024.  It was important that people knew how to report fly tipping and it was raising this awareness and that everybody had a duty of care to dispose of their waste responsibly.

Ms Kirkham then spoke about communication as a partnership and the purpose built messages that went out across Lincolnshire at key times.  Good news stories involving prosecutions, enforcement actions were also shared and more of a social media presence was being carried out with a dedicated Linkedin page and a possible Facebook page in the future.

The presentation was concluded with what the ambitions of the LECP were for the year ahead and what the LECP would be focusing on. Reference was made to Operation Asgard which dealt with the seizure of vehicles involved in waste crime and it was also proposed for more social media presence as well as data capture across Lincolnshire and to continue to attend various events throughout the year to raise awareness.

The Chairman thanked Ms Kirkham for the presentation and indicated a short adjournment would take place before questions.

(11:55 – 12:04 a short adjournment took place)

Following the adjournment questions were raised in respect of the household waste collection sites and whether the reduction in these sites contributed to fly tipping.  It was stated that fly tipping generally had increased since Covid and there were multiple reasons for this. Unfortunately, due to the rurality of Lincolnshire waste criminals often exploited this especially with vulnerable people.

More discussion followed in relation to the household waste centres and when they were open with some requiring an appointment to be made before waste could be disposed of.  Members were reminded that the household waste collection sites were the responsibility of Lincolnshire County Council not the District Council, it was the County Council who stipulated the opening times. 

Further discussion followed with reference being made to the centres at Bourne and also the trial waste collection that had previously happened in Stamford which had now been removed.  A recommendation to Cabinet was put forward to reinstate Saturday morning collections in the Cattle Market Car Park at Stamford for a trial period which was seconded. 

The Cabinet Member for the Environment and Waste stated that the reintroduction of a household waste collection point in Stamford had been raised recently by another Member and the response from the County was that the collection would not be reinstated at Stamford.  Any additional collections would have a significant cost to the District Council waste was collected on behalf of the County Council who were the responsible body for its disposal.

More dialogue followed in respect of fly tipping and reporting it and also the household waste collections in Stamford and Bourne.  Following the recommendation that Saturday morning collections for household waste be reinstated in the Cattle Market Car Park at Stamford for a trial period an amendment was proposed that an investigation into the costs and logistics of reinstating a Saturday collection in the Cattle Market Car Park at Stamford be carried out and this was seconded.  On being put to the vote the recommendation was AGREED.

Recommendation

That the Cabinet be asked to investigate the costs and logistics of reinstating a Saturday morning household waste collection service for a trial period in the Cattle Market Car Park at Stamford.