Agenda item

To receive any questions by Members to Cabinet Members submitted in accordance with the Procedure Note.

(1)  Cllr Steve Harden submitted a question for response by the Portfolio Holder for Pride in Place and Neighbourhood Services (Cllr Christine Guinness), on data relating to fly tipping. In the absence of Cllr Guinness, The Leader of the Council (Cllr Gareth Williams) responded to the question.

In response, Cllr Gareth Williams advised that, where there was strong evidence to identify an individual who had fly tipped, the Council would seek appropriate enforcement action via Fixed Penalty Notice or Prosecution. The Council would also, in the vast majority of cases, require that they clear up the waste if it had not already been removed.

Where there was insufficient evidence, but the Council strongly suspected an individual of fly tipping, the individual would be asked to remove the waste.  

It was also noted that the data requested was not tracked and to go through the data to find a numeric answer to the question was a significant manual task.

Cllr Harden asked a supplementary question regarding enforcement action to be taken against those identified of having carried out fly tipping.

In response to the supplementary question, it was advised that any data held would be shared and the Leader would ask Cllr Guinness to follow up.

(2)  Cllr Akmal Gani submitted a question for response by the Portfolio Holder for Pride in Place and Neighbourhood Services (Cllr Christine Guinness), on data relating to fly tipping. In the absence of Cllr Guinness, The Leader of the Council (Cllr Gareth Williams) responded to the question.

In response Cllr Gareth Williams advised that, a bid had been submitted to the Office of the Police Crime Commissioner seeking funding to enhance the Council’s current static CCTV provision, to include additional cameras that had mobile capability. If successful, this resource would become a Borough asset and available for deployment in any ward, including Fernhill. This Borough wide bid had been in development for some time and was put on hold whilst the impact of a single ward bid had been explored. 

If the bid was successful, the mobile cameras would be solely managed by Officers and could be deployed to both evidenced antisocial behaviour and fly-tip hotspots.  Deployment would be based on Council identified problem areas and police reported crime, in consultation with relevant partners.

Rules with regard to use of public space CCTV must be considered and justifiable in terms of collateral intrusion and this was governed by the Biometrics and Surveillance Commissioner and the Information Commissioners Office. These regulations necessitated Officers to invest time and knowledge to ensure compliance with current guidelines including the need to undertake and complete Privacy Impact Assessments and other documentation completed prior to any deployment.

It was advised that the Borough wide bid had been the preferred option to allow for deployment in all areas and not just with a focus on one ward.

(3)  Cllr G.B. Lyon submitted a question for response by the Portfolio Holder for Healthy Communities and Active Lives (Cllr Sophie Porter), on costs and time involved with Climate Impact Assessments.

In response, Cllr Porter advised that, the Equality Impact Assessments had been embedded before any work had been undertaken on the Climate Impact Assessments. However, it was reported that the tool had been designed, and currently work was underway to seek a training provider. At present costings for the training were not available as the procurement process had only just commenced. The Portfolio Holder anticipated that training would be undertaken in May/June 2026, and she agreed to update the Council with the costings when available.

Cllr Lyon asked a supplementary question regarding a request for data on the cost of each assessment and detail on officer time involved in completing them.

In response to the supplementary question, Cllr Porter advised that she would report back to Members following the training. It was felt that the training would help determine how long an assessment would take to complete and over time, as Officers became more used to completing the assessments, the time could shorten depending on the report subject matter.

(4)  Cllr Sarah Spall submitted a question for response by the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning on action taken to reduce long term empty homes in the Borough.

In response, Cllr Dibble advised on the outstanding work undertaken by the Private Sector Housing Team. It was reported that prior to the National Empty Homes week, Rushmoor case studies had been submitted to the organiser and had subsequently been identified as best practice and showcased on the official website, as part of the National Empty Homes week.

The Council had a Corporate Empty Property Group that met on a quarterly basis to go through the list of long standing/problematic empty properties. The Group was attended by representatives from the legal, environmental health, private sector housing, council tax and planning services.

It was also reported that Rushmoor had the lowest levels of empty properties in the South East (1 in 5 properties).