Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

This report provides an update on demand for and performance of the Compliance and Enforcement service during 2021/22. The report also provides a forward look at challenges and future workload pressures as a result of changes to legislation, policy and areas of growth that will have an impact on the work carried out by Compliance and Enforcement teams.

The Committee considered the report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhood Services) which provided an update on demand for and performance of the Compliance and Enforcement service during 2021/22. The report also provided a forward look at challenges and future workload pressures as a result of changes to legislation, policy and areas of growth that would have an impact on the work carried out by Compliance and Enforcement teams.

Key points and themes in the report included:

• Background information;
• Demand;
• Proactive activities;
• Programmed activities;
• Formal enforcement action;
• Ongoing challenges; and
• Future challenges/pressures.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were: -

• That enforcement activity and prosecutions in relation to fly-tipping should be publicised to assure residents that action was being taken and to warn fly-tippers of the consequences of their actions;
• Issues with poor bin management by students;
• What work was being done to tackle landlords who were letting properties which were not fit for habitation;
• To what extent could the future challenges and pressures outlined in the report be met and what were the risks associated with these;
• How could local businesses better liaise with the Compliance Team so that they did not fall foul of the regulations; and
• Concerns that jobs were sometimes being recorded as completed on the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system when this was not the case.

The Head of Compliance, Enforcement and Community Safety advised that the Council used social media to publicise action taken in relation to fly-tipping and issued press releases when they had successful fly-tipping prosecutions; however, she advised that they were dependent on the media picking up on the press releases.  She advised that they had previously worked with the Manchester Evening News on advertorials and could look into this again.  She reported that she was also open to Members’ suggestions for other ways this work could be publicised.  She advised that the Council did a lot of work to engage with students, as well as engaging with landlords, and that enforcement action was taken where appropriate.  She advised that there were no enforcement powers in relation to taking wheelie bins back onto properties promptly, although the pavement should not be obstructed and she would ask officers to look into this issue.  In response to a Member’s question about street signage, she advised that most legislation did not require this.  She reported that Manchester was working to target rogue landlords, including the use of selective licensing and providing information to tenants and landlords on the actions they could take to address and report mould.  In response to a Member’s question, she offered to provide a copy of the relevant leaflets.  The Executive Member for Housing and Development outlined work to address damp and mould in both private rented and social housing, including making it easier for tenants to report issues.

The Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods outlined how the Neighbourhood Teams, other Council services and partners organisations, including the universities and Manchester Student Homes, were working together to address the issues raised in relation to areas with a large student population.  She reported that this was a constant battle and that they were continually working to address this, as well as looking for new approaches which could be taken.  She advised that a further response would be provided to the Member who had raised this in relation to the next steps to address this within his ward of Withington and that she would be happy to discuss this further with him.  She agreed that it would be useful to further publicise the positive work which was taking place and that this could be done through the Ward Co-ordination Officers.   

In response to the question about future challenges, the Head of Compliance, Enforcement and Community Safety reported that the service would need to prioritise resources, stating that the service currently did a lot of work above and beyond the statutory role but that, where necessary, the statutory work would need to be prioritised, and the additional work reduced, focusing on the work which was most needed.  She advised that, when the government brought in new legislation, there should be funding made available and that her service was always looking for sources of funding and bidding for it.  In response to the question about work with local businesses, she advised that the Compliance Service’s initial approach was always to help businesses to comply with regulations, although enforcement was used where businesses were not willing to engage.  In response to a Member’s question about reporting fly-tipping, she advised that people could still report this by telephone as an alternative to using the website but that a lot of fly-tipping was identified through pro-active work.  In response to a Member’s question, she advised that she was not aware of an increase in noise complaints due to pavement licensing.  She asked Members to feed back on any instances where jobs had been recorded as completed on the CRM system when this was not the case.

The Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods informed Members that a new CRM system was being introduced. In response to a question from the Chair, the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) advised that, although this fell with the remit of the Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee as an ICT issue, he would liaise with the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer about providing an update on this work for this Committee.

In response to a question about the Council’s regulatory duties in relation to industrial processes, the Strategic Lead (Compliance and Enforcement) reported that visits were carried out twice a year and that the focus was on education to ensure that they were operating correctly.

The Chair thanked staff in this area for their work, recognising the wide range of work they undertook.

Decisions

1.            To request that the Head of Compliance, Enforcement and Community Safety circulate the leaflets in relation to damp and mould to all Members of the Committee.

2.            To request that the Committee receive an update on plans for the new CRM system.