Agenda item

Councillor Malpas asked a question of Councillor Lane as the Portfolio Holder.  He advised that the residents and visitors of Billing Ward very much appreciated their dedicated Community Beat Officer as well as their newly appointed Police Community Support Officer Mr Paul Watts.  PC Jewel the dedicated Community Beat Officer was often seen in all weathers cycling around the ward and his presence in this way was reassuring for all the citizens in the Ward.  However the new Police Community Support Officer could not accompany PC Jewel as the Northampton Police force would not allow their Support Officers to use bicycles.  Considering the fact that Billing Parish Council had agreed to sponsor Mr Watts and provide him with a bicycle fit for this purpose and Mr Watts was very keen to start using pedal power.  Councillor Malpas asked the Portfolio holder if he will do all in his power to lobby the Chief Constable for a change in the rules.  Councillor Lane advised that this was a police matter but Northampton Borough Council Officers had contacted Inspector Sean Bell who had advised that it was not the case that Police Community Support Officers were not allowed to use bicycles.  In fact he encouraged and supported such an initiative for the Officers and this mode of transport could be used if they wished as long as the bicycle was roadworthy and suitable.  He also welcomed the positive comments regarding PC Jewel and Mr Paul Watts.

Councillor B Markham then asked a question of Councillor J Lill as the Portfolio Holder.  He asked that when reviewing the introduction of wheelie bins in part of the town last year Health and Environment scrutiny recommended that a scheme for the collection of garden waste free of charge from properties not yet supplied with wheeled bins was developed and introduced.  He asked what were the current arrangements for collection of garden waste from those properties that still had black sacks and how was the service promoted.  Councillor J Lill advised that in accordance with the Health and Environment Scrutiny recommendation a free of charge service for the collection of garden waste had been introduced to properties where a wheeled bin had not been supplied.  The current take up was approximately 20 bookings per week.  She further advised that because these properties were still on black bag collection their service was still weekly as opposed to wheeled bin properties where the service was on an alternative week collection basis.  Therefore the current interim situation was incurring additional resource to provide these collections.  The extension of the scheme planned for the current year would target those areas who did not currently have the full waste minimisation service provided from where the collection of both recyclable and compostable materials was difficult.  The extension of the scheme would predominately focus on flats and high rise dwellings giving them an alternate week collection of residual waste and recyclable material.  Capital funding was available to purchase containers and it was anticipated that the collections could be made within current revenue budgets.  Those areas remaining on weekly bag collections for residual waste would be assessed to find the most appropriate way to provide alternate weekly green waste collections.  However it should be noted that there would be increased resource implications which could not be met from current revenue budgets.