Decision details

Following the approval of an amendment moved by the Labour Group in relation to the original motion submitted, the following motion (as amended) was AGREED as the outcome of the non-cabinet member debate:

“Making our Borough Clean and Safe

This Council notes:

A major issue of upmost importance to Brent Council is the general condition of our area. Residents are increasingly frustrated that a small minority of individuals disregard their streets and use them for rubbish and illegal fly tipping. As ward councillors we are receiving daily updates from local people about dumping in the Borough, and we work tirelessly with Council Officers to resolve these enquiries and prevent the problem from getting worse.

This includes large fly tips in hotspot locations that have been identified by the Council for a considerable time, but with limited resources it is an ongoing battle for our environmental enforcement teams to tackle. Nonetheless we do ensure that proactive action is taken to prevent further ongoing dumping at these sites.

In some areas of the borough ‘paan spitting’ continues to be a major problem local people are forced to contend with. The Councils campaigns to reduce unsightly, unhygienic mess caused by this bad habit will encourage behaviour change.

Rubbish on our streets contributes to how people view the area and can have a knock-on effect in terms of further Anti-Social Behaviour in the community.

A key priority of this local authority must be to address to scourge of fly tipping and crack down forcefully on those who continue to disrespect our community.

The new Waste Service Contract with Veolia is in place, and it is crucial that the company are held to account in delivering the set-out terms of their contract, particularly around targets on street cleansing.

The roll out of the new blue bags recycling service has already led to a 50% increase in the tonnage of paper and cardboard collected in the first month. While the scheme requires residents to adjust to the new regime more blue bin bags are already being collected without contamination, with a record low of 1% contamination. There is a risk of local people losing confidence in the Climate Emergency Strategy should we choose to do nothing to improve the revised recycling system and increase levels of recycling.

It is likely that the new system will result in the Council’s stated aim of increasing the boroughs overall recycling rate.

Prioritising making our borough clean will have a positive effect on the way people feel about where they live and how others who visit Brent view our area.

Therefore, this Council believes:

1.          Keeping local streets clean and free of rubbish must be a continued focus, particularly in light of increased dumping locally.

2.          The best way to discourage illegal behaviour is by a programme of mass fining and continuing a zero-tolerance approach to rubbish on our streets and in our open spaces and paan spitting.

3.          The Brent Connects areas ensure Enforcement Teams are not overly stretched so that a targeted approach is deployed in hotspot fly tipping locations – such as deployment of additional resources in Wembley and Alperton.

4.          It is possible to change behaviours and educate people about how to treat our streets and opens spaces, through well run, targeted and engaging education campaigns.

5.          Volunteers who spend hours every week trying to keep our borough clean and tidy must be commended for the work that they do and assisted wherever possible by the Council.

The blue bag scheme will be reviewed in 2024 with improvements to be considered by Cabinet and the recommendations by Scrutiny looked at again.

This Council therefore resolves to call on the Cabinet Member for Environment, Infrastructure and Climate Action:

1.          To make a non commercially sensitive version of the new Waste Service Contract with Veolia publicly available to enable effective scrutiny of the company and so that we can be confident that they are meeting the set-out terms of their contract with Brent.

2.          To continue to work with partners across the Council and with outside agencies to identify additional resource to assist the existing Waste Enforcement teams across the borough in delivering effective enforcement against those who continue to disrespect our area.

3.          Where additional resource is needed to scope the possibility of employing apprentices to work alongside Neighbourhood Managers and Enforcement Teams in fly tipping hotspot locations in the borough.

4.          Subject to further engagement work, to work with the Cabinet Member for Customers, Communities & Culture, to undertake an internal review of the Brent Connects areas, particularly the Wembley Connects area, to see whether splitting them into smaller geographical areas can help with more effective, targeted waste enforcement work.

5.          To continue the education campaign including door to door communications about the Council’s renewed focus on dealing with rubbish dumping and fly tipping in the area, this will include details of fines individuals would face if caught not adhering to the law.

6.     To ensure that until the New Year all blue bins are emptied according to criteria and scheduled times published in residents’ calendars.  The Council will instruct the contractor to ensure that blue bags are not thrown about and that all bins are returned to the correct location. Above all the Cabinet will consider the feedback from residents and the emerging data from the roll out to consider all options that will support residents with recycling more cardboard and paper utilising the Capital budget of £1.6 million which has been allocated for this.

7.     To lobby the government regarding the possibility of introducing a long awaited deposit scheme for cans and bottles, which would discourage dumping in our area.

8.     To work with other London local authorities to gain insight on best practice around dealing with ongoing rubbish and fly tipping issues that are sadly prevalent in some areas in the capital.

9.     To continue our ongoing work with the Mayor of London to ensure areas in our borough under his jurisdiction are kept clean and safe, including TfL land.

10.   To write to Government urging that they consider banning the sale of paan, or at the very least require businesses who sell it to have a License.

11.   To write to Government about the ongoing fly tipping problems in Brent and request additional funding to support renewed efforts to get to grips with this issue.”

Eligible for Call-In: No