Members considered third party service provision for Civil Enforcement services.

The Lead Member explained that after consideration of concerns raised by other Members, research and visits to Westminster, it was proposed that Community Wardens be removed from the scope of the proposal. The proposal was therefore to conduct a procurement exercise for third party provision of Civil Enforcement Services. A pilot exercise had been undertaken since August 2016 with a private contractor working alongside borough officers. There had been some complaints but this was the nature of the beast in parking enforcement. Up to 50 requests for parking permit schemes were made each year; the borough could only provide 10. Once a scheme was put in there was then a reasonable expectation for it to be enforced.

The Principal Member for HR and Legal commended officers and the Lead Member; it was a credit to all involved that they held their hands up to amending what had originally been planned. This should provide confidence that all views were taken into account. The Chairman commented that he had met with a number of Community Wardens earlier in the day who were completely focussed on providing a bridge between the council and residents. He was concerned that parking enforcement could be too zealous; it was not acceptable to be ticketed if a car was just inches out of a bay. He asked for safeguards to be put in to whatever proposal was brought back in April 2017. In relation to licensing he also had concerns that residents, in particular young people, were being ripped off by Hackney Carriage drivers refusing to give metered fares.  More enforcement was required.

The Lead Member for Finance commented that he was hugely sympathetic with those that undertook the role of parking enforcement. He had seen officers treated inappropriately, including racial abuse. The Lead Member had received three parking tickets in the borough, one of which had been withdrawn on appeal. He had paid both the others. Despite recent reports in the press he was confident that officers were hard working people doing their job and when mistakes were made, they were put right.

Councillor Jones echoed the comments of the Principal Member for HR and Legal, it was a process that had gone through review and reflection and come out with the right reasoning. The Lead Member for Highways and Transport commented that test purchasing of Hackney Carriage fares would be undertaken in the coming months. It was suggested that feedback should be sought from young people via social media.

The Lead Member for Economic Development and Property commented that when he had presented the savings report at Council on 13 December 2016 he had highlighted that savings had not simply been plucked out of the air. Delivering Differently meant looking at alternative approaches.

The Chairman requested that the Managing Director write to each community Warden explaining that the council had amended its proposals for their role and thanking them for their services to residents.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Cabinet:

i.              Agrees the amendment of the ‘in principle’ approval given by Cabinet on June 30, 2016, removing Community Warden services from the scope of the proposal and that third party service providers now be considered for Civil Enforcement services only

ii.            Delegates authority to the Strategic Director of Operations & Customer Services in conjunction with the Lead Member for Environmental Services to conclude a competitive procurement process for the provision of Civil Enforcement services within the Royal Borough.

iii.           Requests a further report be submitted to Cabinet in April 2017 detailing the outcome of the competitive procurement process and if appropriate seeking authority to award a contract to the preferred bidder