Agenda item

Question from Councillor Jacqueline Brown to the Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Environment:

“In the summer of 2023 I contacted officers as a result of residents` complaints regarding bins left out all week in narrow terraced areas. This anti social behaviour causes obstruction and hazards to anyone using the pavement, particularly wheelchair uses and those pushing prams & pushchairs. It also makes the area look very untidy.

Around this time The Sentinel ran an article about the City of Stoke-on-Trent issuing fixed penalty notices to habitual offenders. Officers informed me they were setting up a similar scheme and I was asked to identify hot spots, which I did including Kinsey St, West Street and George Street. Fellow councillors inform me this is a problem in other wards.

However, to my knowledge no fixed penalty notices have yet been issued. Could the portfolio holder give us an update please?”

The Portfolio Holder stated that a procedure had been approved in August 2023.  This was a staged approach to enforcement as follows:  Education.  Letters and fliers were sent to the hotspot areas.  There then followed a three staged approach:  A warning letter sent to properties where issues had continued; this would be followed up by a community protection warning which outlined what was expected of the householder; finally, a community protection notice would be issued identifying the expectations and requirements that the owner/occupier needed to follow and asked them to comply with the notice.  Failure to comply would result in a £100 Fixed Penalty Notice.  Since approval of the scheme, the Neighbourhood Delivery team had carried out extensive work in a number of Wards.

Officers visited Kinsey Street, George Street and Church Street in Silverdale delivering letters and knocking on doors giving advice.  A small number of bins were abandoned and subsequently uplifted.  One resident in Kinsey Street did receive a fine.

Ward members were urged to encourage residents to report such issues so that they could be actioned.

Councillor Brown asked a supplementary question:

“Just to confirm, did you say that one resident was fined on Kinsey Street”

The Portfolio Holder confirmed this.

Question from Councillor Andrew Parker to  the Leader of the Council:

“Deakins Yard (formerly the Sky Building) has been in the news again recently, following the Health & Safety Executive’s decision to block the opening of the student flats due to safety concerns. Can the Leader of the Council provide an update on any further developments?

The Labour MP for Newcastle, in media interviews, stated that he wants answers as to why this student flats development was granted permission. Does the Leader agree with me that he should be looking closer to home to find those answers?”

The Leader stated that Building Control Officers dealing with the Newcastle area raised the alarm in December, 2024 identifying potential risks and alerted the Building Safety Regulator and their evidence prevented occupation of the building.  From that point, the Council worked closely with the Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and ensured that action was taken by keeping up the pressure.  In August this year, the Chief Executive of the Council activated an incident response approach to mitigate the immediate risk.  A major focus was rehousing students and ensuring that they were placed in appropriate accommodation.  

Council staff engaged directly with developers and stakeholders to resolve the situation.  The developers agreed to cooperate with the Building Safety Regulator  and the Council had agreed to meet regularly with the regulator to ensure that there would be no long term impact for residents in the wider community.

Adam Jogee MP was given a full briefing by the Building Safety Regulator, (part of the Health and Safety Executive) and officers, before being interviewed on BBC Radio Stoke.   The MP had asked why permission had been given for this development.  The sale, permission and question regarding due diligence therefore lay with the previous administration of the Council.

Councillor Parker did not ask a supplementary question:

Watch the debate here