Agenda item

            The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1       To provide an update to members on the interagency exercise to improve access for BCC collection vehicles for identified problem streets across Belfast.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is requested to note the contents of the update report.

3.0       Main report

            Key Issues

3.1       Background

3.2       As outlined within the Resources and Fleet Waste Update presented at the September meeting of the People and Communities Committee, members may be aware of the ongoing work to look at addressing the issues around access to certain streets for our collection vehicles.

            Members will be aware that following the single item Committee meeting in March 2023 to discuss access issues, officers have engaged with officers from the PSNI and DFI to look at what measures might be available within their remit to assist collection crews.

3.3       By September, BCC officers had identified the most affected streets, based on crew reporting and residents’ calls. In parallel to a separate piece of work on the viability of smaller vehicles to increase success rates of collections, these streets had been prioritised by difficulty and sorted by post code.

            Update

3.4       As a next step the streets were assessed internally by Waste Collection to identify which streets

·        currently had parking restrictions in place

·        might benefit from additional parking restrictions

3.5       BCC Officers have continued to engage with DFI in the first instance to move the project forward. This however was delayed due to staff within the Department moving to new roles. Once new contacts were established with DFI officials in late October 2023, a virtual meeting took place between BCC Officers and DFI Officers on 10th November.

3.6       At that meeting BCC officers put forward a proposal which included

·        a proposal to focus on 10 blocks of identified streets based on the criteria outlined above (2 blocks per working day). These blocks of streets were aligned to bin collection days and were spread across the city.

·        Baselining measures and success rates to be measured by BCC

·        DFI to identify and measure key deliverables eg penalty notices issued etc

·        PSNI Neighbourhood Teams to be asked to have a presence in the area at the same time alongside DFI enforcement teams.

·        After an agreed period of time a review of the effectiveness of any interventions to be carried out

3.7       Initial feedback from DFI officials indicated that due to their own resource restrictions and other commitments that the size and timescales of the proposal might be difficult to support.

3.8       It was agreed that BCC officers would look at the scale of the proposal. Waste Collections Management teams have carried out further refinement and prioritisation based on their local knowledge and continued difficulty in accessing areas. 

3.9       We are currently engaging with DFI Officers to arrange further meetings before the end of the calendar year. This engagement will focus on what can specifically be achieved given the Department’s resource limitations, and to establish an action plan around introducing additional measures around enforcement as soon as is reasonably practicable.

3.10      Officers will continue to update the Committee on a regular basis with progress and proposals on this issue.

            Financial and Resource Implications

3.11      There are no financial implications associated with this report.

            Equality or Good Relations Implications /

            Rural Needs Assessments

3.12      There are no equality or good relations implications associated with this report.”

            A Member expressed the need for DfI to fully participate as a partner to enable a successful pilot to be undertaken and also discussed those streets that continued to have issues but which currently did not have parking restrictions.

            Following discussion, the Committee:

·        noted the contents of the update report and agreed to write to DfI seeking its full participation as a partner to enable a suitable pilot to be undertaken; and

·        agreed that officers would furnish the Members with a list if those streets that did not currently have parking restrictions but that repeatedly had problems with badly parked cars blocking access.