Town Hall View: Stepping up the battle against fly-tipping

​I’m sure we can all agree that fly-tipping is a real blight on our city and something that I wish I could make disappear instantly! Obviously, things aren’t that simple and the reasons why people fly-tip are wide-ranging, so it’s not an easy problem to solve.

We are, however, actively working to tackle it and our commitment to the cause was recently demonstrated with a £50,000 grant from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

We will use the funds as part of our on-going work to tackle fly-tipping, with plans being drawn up to install further cameras at hotspot locations, as well as raising awareness of fly-tipping and waste disposal through educational programmes and website improvements.

There is lots of good work happening, for example, we had a day of action in my ward in Dogsthorpe at the weekend to tackle littering there, plus we’re planning a new campaign to help raise awareness of the problems of fly-tipping, what we’re doing about it and how you can help, so watch this space!

I am also going to be meeting with the Peterborough Litter Wombles soon to discuss how we can work more closely to get people in the city to take more responsibility.

I can’t stress this part enough. We need your help to report fly-tipping to us, effectively shopping those who do it. We need people to take care of their own front door, their own community and their own city.

We also need people to appreciate their duty of care when it comes to getting rid of waste. For example, if you hire an unlicensed waste carrier to collect your rubbish and it gets fly-tipped and traced back to you, then you could face a heavy fine. Don’t forget there are several legitimate ways to get rid of waste in Peterborough – visit www.peterborough.gov.uk for advice on this subject.

I want everyone to feel like they live in a cleaner, safe greener, safer city – a city that people want to live and invest in. In addition, when we are talking to investors and potential new businesses, we need to make sure that our reputation is strong to win that investment in our city and tackling fly-tipping and other environmental crimes is a significant part of that.

At last week's Full Council meeting there were questions about the recent decision about Werrington Fields. One of those questions was about how the Cabinet meeting proceeded and the input from councillors during that meeting.

Werrington Fields is a matter that I and the Cabinet have dedicated a lot of time to since taking over in May, learning the incredibly detailed backstory, asking questions and challenging the advice we have received. I appreciate this did not come across at the Cabinet meeting two weeks ago, but they are the facts.

The decision made by the Cabinet has now been called in, which means it will be considered by a joint meeting of Children and Education Scrutiny and Growth, Resources and Communities Scrutiny tomorrow (August 2) at 10am. I welcome the opportunity for councillors to look at this again and consider whether the correct procedures have been followed.

Scrutiny members can decide to reject the call in, refer the decision back to Cabinet for reconsideration, or it may refer the matter to Full Council. If the decision is made to refer it back to myself and the Cabinet, then I of course welcome the decision to look at this extremely complicated issue again.

At last week’s Full Council meeting, Councillor Katy Cole, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, provided an update on the work that is ongoing to achieve rapid improvement in our work with children and families. Ofsted inspectors are with us this week to look specifically at our offer for care leavers and whether we have made progress.

One other area of focus is recruiting additional foster carers, so that children in our care receive the best support possible. It is also much more cost effective for the council to recruit its own foster carers rather than using private foster agencies.

For more information on how to become a foster carer, contact our fostering team on 01733 868686 or email [email protected] or register online at www.peterborough.gov.uk/fostering