Issue - meetings

That the Committee note the 2012-13 Quarter 3 performance reports.

Public Protection

The Interim Public Protection Manager introduced the report for Public Protection and highlighted the following areas where targets had not been achieved:

Animal Health reported an improvement on the previous quarter but had not reached target with High Risk Businesses.  The indicator needed to be re-profiled.

Trading Standards – High risk businesses – performance not reached due to a vacant post, but the department was confident they would achieve 99% by end of year.

The Interim Public Protection Manager then highlighted developments in a number of areas including awareness raising about cold callers and consumer rights, an illegal money lending case going to Crown Court and a farmer who had been given a custodial sentence for persistent flouting of TB regulations.

Councillor A.I. Dunbar asked if the government were due to relax restrictions on cold calling.  The Interim Public Protection Manager said that he was not aware of any proposals but would check with Trading Standards and get back to him.

Councillor C. Hinds asked about the numbers of prosecutions for dog fouling.  The Head of Public Protection said that incidents had to be witnessed in order for tickets to be issued which did prove difficult. Councillor Hinds said that offences were more likely to occur early morning and late at night. A Dog Watch scheme had been set up in Mold, Broughton and Connah's Quay. He confirmed that there were no pending prosecutions at the moment.

Councillor N.M. Matthews said that wider publicity was needed to ensure wider participation in Dog Watch.  Councillor V. Gay asked if small flyers could be left in community settings to advertise Dog Watch and to encourage the public to report incidents/regular timings of incidents.

The Chair said that some Members might not be aware of Dog Watch and asked that a note be circulated to Members of the Committee.

Councillor J. Johnson asked if there were any examples of good practice in enforcement from other local authorities.  The Interim Public Protection Manager said that all authorities acknowledged the difficulty in issuing fixed Penalty Notices and that Flintshire was adopting a long term strategy. He agreed to check with the Welsh Local Government Association to see if they could offer any examples of good practice.

Councillor Matthews asked if there had been any health and safety issues with tattoo parlours in Flintshire.  The Interim Public Protection Manager said that the Council were looking at putting in place a rating scheme for Tattoo parlours, similar to the one in place for food premises.

Councillor P. Shotton said that there was a lack of awareness in the community of the work of the Anti Social Behaviour Co-ordinator. He asked if the service could be advertised in the next edition of Housing News and the Council newspaper. The Interim Public Protection Manager said that it was an excellent suggestion and that he would action it.

Councillor Gay said that she had not received Neighbourhood Warden Neighbourhood reports recently.  The Interim Public Protection Manager said that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69