Agenda item

The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“1       Relevant Background Information

1.1    The figures presented in this report cover the second quarter of the financial year i.e. the period from October 2014 to December 2014.  Monitoring figures were measured by Cleansing Services Quality Officers.  Enforcement, Dog Warden and Education and Awareness information was supplied by the Customer Support Service, Dog Warden Service and the Community Awareness Section within Cleansing Services, who were responsible for these functions over the period concerned.

 

1.2    The monthly monitoring programme consists of a random 5% sample of streets throughout the city being inspected and graded.  From the grading, a Street Cleanliness Index is calculated and plotted for the various areas of the city, and the city as a whole.

 

1.3    The index range is from 1 to 100; with a Cleanliness Index of 67 being regarded as an acceptable standard by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.  The results show the trends on a month to month basis.  To alleviate the influence of spurious results on the overall index, the results are averaged over the last 4 surveys.  Spurious results may occur for reasons such as adverse weather conditions, seasonal problems etc.

 

2       Key Issues

2.1    The overall city wide cleanliness index for this quarter is 74.  This is a decrease compared to the score for the previous quarter’s cleanliness index of 75.  The index for the same period in the previous year was 74.  A cleanliness index of 74 is above the target set and is considered an extremely good level of cleanliness.

 

2.2    The breakdown by individual area is as follows:

 

2.3    North

         The North Cleanliness Indices for October 2014 to December 2014 were 72, 74 and 73 respectively.  This represents a decrease for all three months, with October (down 4), November (down 1) and December (down 1) by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 76, 75 and 74 respectively. 

 

         The area is however maintaining a good level of cleanliness.

 

2.4    South

         The South Cleanliness Indices for October 2014 to December 2014 were 78, 77 and 76 respectively.  This represents an increase for October (up 3), a similar score for November (77), and an increase for December (up 2) by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 75, 77 and 74 respectively. 

 

         The area is maintaining a very good level of cleanliness.

 

 

2.6    East

         The East Cleanliness Indices for October 2014 to December 2014 were 77, 77 and 74 respectively.  This represents an increase for October (up 2), an increase for November (up 3) and a decrease for December (down 2), by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 75, 74 and 76 respectively. 

 

         The area is maintaining a very good level of cleanliness.

 

2.6    West

         The West Cleanliness Indices for October 2014 to December 2014 were 73, 72 and 71 respectively.  This represents an increase for October (up 1), a similar score for November (72) and December (71), by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 72, 72 and 71 respectively. 

 

         The area is maintaining a good level of cleanliness.

 

2.7    Central

         The Central Cleanliness Indices for October 2014 to December 2014 were 75, 72 and 73 respectively.  This represents an increase for October (up 2), a decrease for November (down 2), and a similar score for December (73), by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 73, 74 and 73 respectively. 

 

         The area is maintaining a good level of cleanliness.

 

2.8    Complaints / Enquiries

 

         There were 1233 enquiries regarding street cleansing during the quarter (by comparison to 1474 last quarter).

 

2.9    There were seventeen Corporate Complaints (15 Stage One, 1 stage two and 1 Stage Three) during the quarter – two of which related to street cleansing (both stage 1).

 

2.10  Enforcement

 

         There were 689 Fixed Penalty Notices issued under the Litter (NI) Order 1994, and 115 summonses issued.  In addition 1339 Article 20 Notices were issued requesting information in relation to alleged offences.

 

 

2.11  Community & Education Projects

 

         During the last quarter, the Community Awareness Team managed the Brighter Belfast environmental awards including Belfast in Bloom.  The team also ran the Christmas ELF project with 69 nursery schools participating.   The ‘Singing Street Sweepers’ were out over the festive period singing Christmas Carols on a litter theme, creating a lot of interest in the city centre and social media. 

 

2.12  In the last quarter, the team facilitated 15 community cleanups with 322 volunteers, attended or chaired 13 events at which 4995 people attended, and visited 88 schools with 3018 pupils attending, spreading the anti-litter and dog fouling message.  

 

2.13  Dog Fouling

 

         The overall instances of dog fouling observed by Cleansing Services Quality Officers during the quarter were 192.  There is a focus placed on dealing with dog fouling hotspots as a result of complaints and information from staff out on the ground.  Cleansing Services and the Dog Warden Service continue to work together to address hot spots when identified.

 

2.14  Dog Warden Information

 

         During the quarter the following was noted:

 

1.     A total of 29 fixed penalty notices were issued for dog fouling (21 last quarter)

2.     A total of 235 dogs were seized for straying (242 last quarter)

3.     A total of 156 fixed penalty notices were issued for straying (169 last quarter)

 

2.15  The Dog Ward service is on target in regard to stray dogs, and continues to work towards meeting fixed penalty targets for dog fouling. 

 

3       Resource Implications

 

3.1    Financial

         There are no financial implications in this report.

 

3.2    Human Resources

         There are no human resources implications in this report.

 

 

3.3    Asset and Other Implications

         There are no assets or other implications in this report.

 

4       Equality and Good Relations Implications

4.1    There are no relevant equality and good relations implications.

 

5       Recommendation

5.1    Members are asked to note the content of this report.”

 

             The Head of Cleansing Services outlined the high level of cleanliness which had been maintained throughout the City.  During discussion, a Member expressed gratitude to the Cleansing Services staff who had responded quickly to a call regarding graffiti at the Ladybrook bus terminus. 

 

            The Committee noted the contents of the report.