Agenda item

D Austin introduced the report informing Members that the report had previously gone to SPAE Committee, so we welcome your views this evening.

 

D Austin highlighted a few things;

The proposed Byelaws, 7 parks only, shown in paragraph 7, page 67.

Paragraph 14 give you a sense of the byelaws and the types of activates they can enforce.

There is also some provision in paragraph 16 for them to put in licencing activates like boot camps.

Page 66 there is a process outline for Members following approval by the Council, there is still a process to go through in terms of consultation and is still subject to approved by the secretary of states.

D Austin pointed out that on page 69 the authority does have an enforcement policy so it’s important we need to operate within the principles of the policy.

 

D Austin was happy to take questions along with R Cassidy and B Lisgarten.

 

Cllr Bassadone asked, when people camp in Bunkers park, what action can be taken that night.

 

R Cassidy said that the Police can act on Byelaws, it would probably be best to call them.

 

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe said he is questioning why only 7 areas? Why are we excluding fields and parks? Is it not easier or forward thinking to include all parks as you run the risk of needing it for other areas?

 

B Lisgarten said at the last Environment OSC this was raised that we should widen the scope of the Byelaws, this can be done. Part of the process is to carry out the assessment to see if it’s viable.

 

Cllr Banks was going to make the same point, in Grove hill there are two parks that are likely to be abused and only one is on the list.

 

B Lisgarten when they first looked at this the list it was very long and had to be reduced, if you feel there is a need to incorporate both areas this can be decided amongst officers and that can then be included.

 

Cllr Adeleke asked, if we go ahead with all this, just on the enforcement side, page 7 of 23 the agencies that are responsible for enforcing these Byelaws include virtually everyone who you can think of, who exactly will be enforcing these Byelaws.

 

R Cassidy said that it will be the Clean Safe and Green Team who are hoping to get some people trained up, so Supervisors and Enforcement Officers can enforce this. It’s not just about enforcement it’s about giving guidance of what people can and can’t do. R Cassidy said he sees these things happening on a day to day basic and normally just informing someone what they can and can’t do is more that enough.

 

Cllr Fethney referred to the legal process, are we going to the Secretary of sates for all cases or just it someone who objects. What kind of law does this then represent.

 

B Lisgarten said that in terms of Byelaws themselves they are local, automated or local people. In the hierarchy of things you have statutory things in parliament then statutory instruments which are extra bits which allow Cabinet Officers to do various things and underneath that are Byelaws which are for specific areas. This identifies the problem areas and if we need to legislate, where Parliament hasn’t and there aren’t any other laws then we should be aloud to do it.

The reason why it goes to the Secretary of State is to ensure that we are not duplicating anything that they have done.

 

Cllr England wanted to echo the point made by other Councillors to expand the areas. He asked if drones count as aeroplanes.

 

B Lisgarten said she looked into this and drones are in a different category to aircrafts, they have there own rules and regulations. The link is in the report.

 

Cllr Timmis asked, when people go to these parks how will they know what is restricted.

Will there be a list on each park.

 

R Cassidy said there maybe a sign saying DBC Byelaws with reference to their website. Having a sign saying don’t do this is very off putting.

 

Cllr Timmis said that people aren’t going to look at the website before they go to the park.

 

R Cassidy said no, but if he saw someone doing something they shouldn’t he would say sorry you can’t do that people go to our website and look further into the Laws. They are also consulting with the Public so people maybe aware of this.

 

Cllr Marshall said that this point was taken up with the Planning Committee. Its trying to find a way of publicising our parks in an attractive way, there is works to be done.

 

Cllr Mahmood asked why now, what was the driver for this.

 

R Cassidy said that he started this 5 years ago when he started with DBC. It seems the right way to go to and when speaking to other authorities it’s worked for them.

 

Cllr Marshall said that the Government did amend the legislation process earlier this year, it is easier to put in Byelaws, we have recently have growth in boot camps using the parks. It hasn’t come to a crunch yet, but we want the Byelaws in our back pockets so we have that ability to enforce if we are in that situation.

 

Cllr Timmis said shouldn’t boot camps be able to use them as they are local sports.

 

R Cassidy said the problem is they charge people for the boot camps so there making profit, sometimes our land has been damaged and residents aren’t happy. This Byelaw says that we can charge them.

 

Cllr Mahmood said with the signage we need a bare minimum to satisfy the legal requirement.

 

R Cassidy agreed.

 

Cllr Mahmood said we want to ensure all parks are covered so we are not shifting the problems from A to B.

 

R Cassidy said it makes sense to have them all but it’s the work involved.

 

Cllr Griffith said that when Byelaws are brought in people wont check to see what parks they cover, there will be some, but the majority once they know a Byelaws applies most people assume it cover all green spaces.

 

Cllr England, are there not Byelaws in existence that people need to abide by.

 

B Lisgarten said they do have some Byelaws and the report does mention them, in order for us to be open and transparent it would be good to have a sign.

 

Cllr Harden referred to those who do fitness what category does this come under in the draft.

 

B Lisgarten Byelaw 40 of the draft.

 

Cllr Mahmood asked if it affected the budget.

 

B Lisgarten said this was part of the assessment to see if it was viable, there is no guarantee it will go ahead as it maybe too expensive.

 

Cllr Mahmood gave thanks for an easy readable report.

 

Action:  None

Outcome: Report was noted.