Agenda item

New Fly Posting Policy and Procedures

Minutes:

The Board received a presentation on the Draft Fly Posting Policy from the Senior Community Safety Project Officer and the Environmental Services Manager. The aim of the presentation was to give the Board an insight into some of the content of the new fly posting policy and to allow the Board’s comments to be fed into the report which would be presented to Cabinet in September 2012.

The Senior Community Safety Project Officer explained that the new policy would clarify the Council’s approach in tackling fly-posting through its cleansing and enforcement activities and how the Council worked with its partners and other agencies to tackle illegal advertisements and to promote advertising within the parameters of the law. The new policy would provide the Community Safety Team with additional tools, through the Joint Environmental Enforcement Strategy, in particular the use of the fixed penalty notice scheme. Members were informed that, this year the Team had already investigated over 60 separate incidents of fly posting.

Members were provided with a definition of fly posting and its associated problems. Fly posting was an illegal activity which could give the impression of neglect, could attract litter, graffiti and criminal damage to an area, and could potentially obscure important traffic signs and create obstruction and cause injury if dislodged or not fixed appropriately. The Board was also provided with information on how advertisements were controlled; the Local Planning Authority was responsible for the day to day operation of the advertisement control system and making the decision as to whether a particular advertisement received consent.

The Senior Community Safety Project Officer provided the Board with information on relevant legislation and the Council’s powers to take action against those responsible for fly posting. It was highlighted to Members that the Council would always take positive action in line with legislation and its own policies to tackle fly posting where it had a detrimental impact on communities and the environment.

The Board was also provided with details of how the policy would enable preventative action to be taken to deter fly posting. The preventative action encompassed five stages of enforcement, including fixed penalty notices and these were outlined in the Council’s Joint Environmental Enforcement Strategy. Members were informed that the policy supported good communications between relevant departments within the Council and partnership working with external agencies in order to ensure the policy was implemented effectively; this included the sharing of intelligence with other districts within the County. The Senior Community Safety Project Officers provided Members with information on how the Council would deal with non-commercial and charitable advertising.

The Board was provided with information on the new procedure for enforcement officers which guided officers through the complexity of fly posting legislation and advertising guidelines. Members were also provided with timescales for implementation of the policy and procedures and it was confirmed that it would be received at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for 5th September 2012.

Following the presentation the Senior Community Safety Project Officer and the Environmental Services Manager responded to questions from Members. Members discussed the following areas in more detail:

Clarifications in respect of fly posting for such events as church fetes - it was confirmed that there would be a period of time when advice on how to obtain consent would be provided to those that advertised in this way.
Developers for new housing estates – it was confirmed that these were one of the classes which had deemed consent (each class of deemed consent had its own conditions within that consent).
The cost to the Council and whether any fines that were levied covered this.
“A” Boards that were used in the town centre and advertising used by market stall holders. It was confirmed that businesses using this type of advertising came within the Fly Posting Policy and that it would be expected that such businesses ensured that the Boards were placed on land that they had permission for that they owned. Market stall holders would need to apply for permission for any advertising that was required.
Whether there was a “revocation” clause within the contracts for businesses which hired the Council’s facilities and did not have the appropriate permissions to advertise those events.
The inclusion within the policy of the stages prior to a fixed penalty being given - it was confirmed that any level of enforcement could be taken for any offence dependent upon its severity and circumstances.
Clarification in respect of charitable organisations and how such organisations were dealt with within the policy, in particular those larger charities which were run more commercially.

At this stage of the meeting Councillor L. Mallett declared a personal interest as an employee of a charitable organisation and left the meeting for the remainder of the agenda item.

Confirmation that signage for example for lost pets would be classed as non commercial advertising.
Advice and written warnings would be provided where necessary.

RECOMMENDED that the policy be amended to ensure the inclusion of a “revocation” clause within the hire contracts for businesses which have hired the Council’s facilities and advertised such events without the appropriate permissions.

RESOLVED that a copy of the Draft Fly Posting Policy be provided to Members when available.