Enforcement Team Quarterly Update (Oct- December) The stats:

PCNs Month On Street Off Street

October 2,243 820 November 2,212 568

December 1,519 431

Civil Enforcement Officers continue to patrol the streets regularly despite the lockdown. Their aim is to keep traffic flowing.

Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs)

The issuing of FPNs has been affected by the latest lockdown which has made offenders a little more reluctant to move around the district, staff testing positive for Covid-19 or needing to isolate and the fact we have five new officers in training.

Number issued since April FPN offence

Failure Authority Transport 1 x £300 each = £300 Waste

Failure to comply with PSPO 2 x £100 each = £200

Failure Produce Waste Document 4 x £300 each = £1,200

Flytipping 9 x £400 each = £3,600

Householders Duty of Care 1 x £300 each = £300

5 x £150 each = £750 Deposit Littering

3 x £100 each= £300 Litter from vehicle

Total = £6,650

Lorry clamping

Problems with illegal parking by foreign lorry drivers and occasional antisocial behaviour are well publicised. Our Civil Enforcement Officers continue to issue fines but are now being supported by contractors from County Council following an increase in their powers allowing them to clamp lorries in preparation of the end of the EU transition period. The trial will last for six months. Initially, lorry drivers were alerted to the scheme and advised on where they could park legally. Between 11 January and 20 January, a total of 24 lorries have been clamped in the district.

Since then, the amount of illegal parking by HGVs has dropped dramatically.

We are alerting KCC to problem locations. https://countryeye.co.uk/ https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/uk-has-left-the-european-union/travel-and-transpo rt/hgv-parking-ban-scheme Environmental Crime Team successes

The Environmental Crime Team has chalked up the following successes:

● Two different residents were issued FPNs of £150 each for depositing litter in Cotton Road and St George’s Street , respectively

● The latter individual received their penalty after they were issued a parking ticket. They were then observed by a Parking Officer to rip up the parking ticket and throw it on the ground. They were identified through vehicle checks. Officers then visited his home address and issued the Fixed Penalty for littering

● A man from Ramsgate has been issued a FPN of £400 following an investigation into a fly tip that took place in Reynolds Farm Road, in August 2020. A witness reported seeing the fly tip in progress. Officers corroborated the witness’s account when they secured GPS tracker evidence from the vehicle that had been used to fly tip the waste. The GPS record showed that the vehicle was in Reynolds Farm Road at the time the witness observed the fly tip taking place. The vehicle was subsequently linked to the man in Ramsgate.

● A man from has been issued a FPN of £300 for failing in his duty of care in respect of waste being removed from his property. He paid £20 to two unknown people to remove three black bags of household waste. The waste was then fly tipped in Owls Hatch Road, Herne Bay. Officers secured evidence and linked the waste back to an address in Herne Bay.

● A man from Faversham was issued a FPN of £300 after failing to keep records of controlled waste transfers. Enforcement Officers and stopped the man in a truck conveying various controlled waste materials and the driver was unable to produce any records relating to the origins of the waste.

● A man from Canterbury was also issued a FPN of £300 after Enforcement Officers and Kent Police stopped his vehicle. The vehicle contained various controlled waste items. The male was unable to produce documents showing the origin of the waste. He was issued a further Fixed Penalty Notice, also for £300, for failing to produce an Environment Agency licence permitting him to transport controlled waste.

● In June, Enforcement Officers attended a fly tip of waste in Lime Kiln Road Canterbury. An investigation ensued and the waste was eventually traced to two women living in London. When presented with the evidence secured by officers both parties admitted the offence of fly tipping. Both were issued a FPN of £400.

● A man from Whitstable was stopped by Kent Police and Enforcement Officers in Whitstable. On examining the vehicle it was found to contain controlled waste. The male was served with a formal notice requiring him to produce paperwork relating to the waste. He failed to produce such documents and he has subsequently been issued a FPN of £300.

● A man from Herne Bay has been issued a warning notice for making unnecessary noise by operating heavy plant machinery late into the evening/night time, causing a nuisance to residents. The warning was ignored and this has now led to planning enforcement issuing a notice preventing any further activity on the site on the outskirts of Canterbury.

● Canterbury City Council was successful in securing an injunction against an female resident of Canterbury in relation to antisocial behaviour. Despite many written warnings and interventions by the police and Enforcement Officers, she continued to cause a significant nuisance around the Canterbury area leading to numerous complaints. Since the injunction was issued the individual has been arrested for breaching the injunction and will now appear in court for this breach in due course.

● The owner of a Canterbury property, who lives in North Yorkshire has been issued with a FPN of £100 for failing to secure land to prevent fly tipping and for failing to maintain the property to a safe and acceptable standard. Enforcement Officers had corresponded with the owner on three separate occasions to try and resolve the matter but the owner failed to respond.

● A man from Herne Bay has been issued a FPN for £400 for fly tipping on land off May Street, Herne Bay. This followed an investigation by Enforcement Officers into a fly tip of bricks.

● A man from Faversham has been issued FPNs totalling £600 after he was discovered transporting controlled waste without a licence and for failing to produce documentation showing the origin of the waste

● The registered keeper of a vehicle was issued a FPN for £150 after an Enforcement Officer observed litter being deposited from the vehicle in Road near Whitstable.

● The registered keeper of a vehicle was issued a FPN for £150 after an Enforcement Officer observed litter being thrown from the vehicle in Tourtel Road, Canterbury.

● A Herne Bay resident was issued with a caution after admitting to a failure of duty of care in respect of their household waste. The resident paid an unknown individual to remove waste from their property. The waste was subsequently fly tipped in a neighbouring street.The resident incurred a further financial charge after they paid to have the fly tip cleared by a licensed waste carrier.

● A resident of Canterbury who has been involved in regular anti-social behaviour was issued formal warning notices by council Enforcement Officers. The resident failed to abide by the terms of the notices and was subsequently arrested on two separate occasions, for breaching the requirements of the notices. The matter will now be passed to the magistrates to decide on the outcome of this case.

● A woman from Canterbury has been issued a FPN for £100 for allowing significant waste to accumulate in the front garden of their property in Canterbury. This was causing an unsightly nuisance and smell to neighbours as well as attracting pests. Enforcement Officers were alerted to the problem in June 2020. However, despite verbal requests and written warnings, The resident is still required to clear the waste and the council will review the situation shortly and will take further steps if the matter is not resolved.

● A Canterbury man has been issued with a FPN of £300 for failing to produce waste transfer documents relating to the transfer of waste collected from domestic premises in the area. Some of the waste was fly tipped in the countryside on the outskirts of Canterbury. Enforcement Officers are continuing their enquiries into the fly tipping offences.

● Enforcement Officers have issued several written warnings to individuals in Canterbury city centre for antisocial behaviour. This is an ongoing issue and officers will continue to work with Kent Police and other agencies to deal with unacceptable behaviour.

● A total of 57 separate households have been issued with notices in respect of household waste issues such as blocking footways with bins

● Officers instigated an investigation in November 2020 into a significant fly tip of builders waste in Pennypot Lane, . Enquiries into the origin of the waste led to a man from a business in Margate. He was issued a FPN for £300 for failing in his duty of care in respect of business waste. In addition to this offence, another man from Chartham was identified as the person who collected the waste from the business in Margate. This man has been issued with FPNs totalling £900 for failing to hold a waste carriers licence, failing to produce waste transfer documents, failing in his duty of care in respect of waste that was under his control and, for passing the waste on to another unlicensed person to dispose of. The investigation is continuing into the person who actually fly tipped the waste. They have been identified and efforts are now being made to trace this individual. Please support the team by reporting online the flytips you notice and other matters such as abandoned vehicles https://www.canterbury.gov.uk/info/20043/waste_and_enforcement/27/report_an_abandone d_vehicle https://www.canterbury.gov.uk/flytipping

Graffiti Team

Graffiti is a significant issue in the district of Canterbury and we have a dedicated team committed to removing graffiti as quickly as possible. As well as increasing the fear of crime, removal of graffiti across the district has a significant impact on the council taxpayer. In 2020, we had 1,455 cases of graffiti reported to us and more than 600 reports in the last quarter (Oct-Dec 2020).

The 130 jobs dealt with by the Serco Streets team between October and December 2020, cost the council £4,337.24. The average tag removal costs £33.36.

This cost includes:

● staff hourly rate plus training, uniform and PPE ● equipment, Chemicals used, ● cost of the vehicle, fuel and insurance ● extra resources like ladders, signs and cherry pickers ● road closures. The Graffiti team has worked with the Communications team to promote a toolkit designed to help both businesses and residents to report graffiti quickly and helping them make small changes to their property to try and reduce the impact of graffiti reoccurring. We have had monthly multi agency meetings with Kent Highways, Network Rail, Kent Police, British Transport Police, cleaning contractors and the Canterbury BID. This work has led to the Wincheap railway bridge being fully repainted at the top and planning for the bottom to be painted in an anti-graffiti coating. Railscape, Network Rail's graffiti removal contractor, has also carried out site visits and removed graffiti from the locations we report to them. In some cases, they need control of the tracks known as possession. These include: ● St Dunstan’s Crossing, Graffiti to property low level. This location will require ​ possession in order for this work to be carried safely. This has been arranged for week of 1 February. ● Canterbury West Station retaining wall – Roper Road side. Railscape is looking after this location this week ● Kent Cars building - Roper Road. Our Property team has instructed their contractors to start the work ● Wincheap rail bridge. The area has been repainted, strengthening works taking place weekends 16 and 22 February. Once this is complete Railscape will then install anti-graffiti coating. ● Nunnery Fields. Completed 18 January. ● Old Dover Road. Possession required to access the lineside graffiti, this still needs to be booked. ● Farleigh Road. Some of the area has been completed, including the TP Hut there is a possession coming up to get to the rest of the lineside area. ● St Stephen’s Crossing. Possession week of 1 February. We have also been working closely with the police, and have three investigations ongoing in relation to graffiti criminal damage in the district. We have recruited an extra officer called Jake. He starts on 8 February. We are sad to have to say goodbye to Nicole Holt who is leaving us to focus on her PhD studies. We are interviewing to fill her vacancy over the following weeks. I am really impressed at how productive the team has been in tackling repeat graffiti 'attacks’ across the whole district but especially in Wincheap and the city centre. The team is often at the coast removing tags from the seafront, including 50+ 'GO Home' Stencils painted on the floor along the coast in Whitstable. Please report graffiti via the online form to aid the team in keeping the district clear and fighting against the offenders. https://www.canterbury.gov.uk/info/20044/vandalism_and_graffiti

Coming up in the next quarter (January- March)

Operation Unicorn - We will be carrying out environmental audits to look for signs of crime in ​ an area. These include issues such as fly tipping, accumulations of waste in gardens, abandoned vehicles, nuisance vehicles, scrap/waste collectors operating in the area, commercial and household waste issues, dog fouling, graffiti and vandalism. This isn't an exhaustive list and officers will include anything environmental or anti-social behaviour-related. Referrals will be made to other teams such as housing, the police, Contracts, Graffiti Team ​ etc. City Centre Support Team - we have seven- day coverage across the district where the main footfall is reported to be. The team is advising members of the public on social distancing and mask wearing and reporting any concerns or breaches to the correct authorities. We have noted an increase in coastal footfall potentially due to the rainfall and mud in the woodland areas and, as a result, have increased the coverage in these areas. Recruitment - We are currently going through the recruitment process for the following vacant positions and very much look forward to welcoming the new officers to the team to continue the good work: ● Two new graffiti enforcement officers ● Two new parking enforcement officers ● One new senior community safety officer Digitalisation - We also will be working with our digital team to create a much-needed case ​ management system to support the team’s work on offenders, building case files for potential prosecutions or other enforcement action.

Please do let me know if there are any areas of interest for me to look into sharing and updating you on in the next quarter.

I hope this has been informative and I will continue to share areas of the enforcement team’s work with you.