The Committee considered a report by the Lead Member for Environment and the Ilfracombe Harbour Master (circulated previously) regarding the Litter Working Group.

The Lead Member for Environment outlined the Litter Working Group report on Binfrastructure to the Committee.   She advised that this report concluded the work of the Working Group and thanked Members of the Group and Officers who had supported the Group.

In response to questions, the Lead Member advised the following:

·       Some engagement work had taken place with Petroc which resulted in some limited success in terms of littering, however the problem had now returned.

·       Business could sign up to a voluntary code of conduct in terms of litter.

·       Under the Environment Act, businesses would be responsible for the disposal of plastic.

·       If businesses persistently allowed litter on their land, then it could be cleared by the Council and the business would then be recharged.

·       Litter enforcement was really important.

In response, the Chief Executive advised the following:

·       The use of mobile cameras was highly regulated.  The Council was regulated by RIPA and the Council was not able to carry out covert surveillance unless a court order was approved by the Magistrates Court.

·       The Council was able to use overt cameras which some officers wore as body cameras.

·       Civil Enforcement Officers had powers to enforce some elements of the Public Spaces Protection Order.

·       In accordance with the Data Protection Act, the Council was required to have specific reasons to collate data.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the report be and that its proposals reflect the Litter Strategy agreed by Strategy and Resources in February 2021, and that a better record of our assets and improvement in procedures was necessary in order to manage litter more effectively be noted;

(b) That it be noted that the Harbour Master had made a funding bid to support the harbour binfrastructure changes, and that if the bid was not successful that a future bid, or request for funding from NDC, would be needed;

(c) That it also be noted that the Environment Enhancement Service had set a target of the end of March to achieve an up-to-date record of bins in the bin mapping tool; that this target included a system for requesting mapping updates in line with bin requests.

Councillor Worden thanked Councillor Pearson, the Harbour Master and Members of the Litter Working Group for their work.