Agenda item

The Committee were reminded that the Local Government Act 1992 defined a Local Authority’s Special Expenses.  It stated that Special Expenses were any expenses incurred by the authority in performing in a part of its area, a function performed elsewhere by a Parish Council.

Special Expenses were currently charged for the provision and emptying of dog waste bins, this also included West Lynn which was unparished.

Parish and Town Council were responsible for the provision and installation of dog waste bins within the parished/town areas and also paid the Borough Council for the emptying of said bins.

It was explained that in total there were 775 dog waste bins located throughout the Borough of which 128 were located in King’s Lynn & West Lynn.  The bins were emptied once or twice a week based on usage levels and equated to a total of 161 empties.

There was currently a projected budget of £12,400 for 2018/19 to Special Expenses for the emptying of dog waste bins within King’s Lynn.

At present there was no provision within Special Expenses for the supply and installation of dog waste bins and this cost was met from present revenue budgets.

Councillor Mrs Collop referred to problems being experienced at Mill Lane in relation to dog fouling and stated that 2 signs were in-situ.  She asked what else could be done to prevent the problem from happening. 

The Public Open Space Manager explained that it was sometimes difficult to place dog waste bins outside of someone’s house but he would have a look to see if there was somewhere where a bin could be located.  The problem could also be reported to the Council’s Community Safety and Neighbourhood Nuisance Team to look into. 

Councillor Joyce stated that in order to prevent this from happening elsewhere, someone should be taken to court and fined over the issue.

Councillor Miss Bambridge agreed with the comments made by Councillor Joyce.  She informed the Committee that the Environment & Community Panel would, at its next meeting, be considering a review of Littering and Dog Fouling.

In response to a query raised by Councillor J Collop, the Operations Manager explained that you could apply for a dog waste bin on the Council’s website.  Officers would then go out to see if the location was acceptable.  As part of any on-going review, officers would talk to Ward Members and if it was found that an area was being used more heavily then another dog waste bin would be provided. 

The Executive Director for Commercial Services explained that the Council had been given £26,636 from Government as part of the clean our high streets campaign, however this money had to be spent by the end of March.  The Council had also been awarded £24,000 for parks but that had to be spent by the end of the next financial year.

With the £26,636 it was proposed to buy some litter picking sets, chewing gum removal kits and also further dog waste bins and large bins could be bought so the Council had a stock.

AGREED:   (1)     That the report be noted.

(2)        That the Committee welcomed the funding from Government and agreed with the spend proposals put forward by the Executive Director for Commercial Services.