10 February 2010

Regulations are put in place to keep people safe, but they should not when implemented well intrude on daily life. However, as the audience in London at the LACORS Streetscene and taxi licensing conference on Tuesday 09 February are well aware, this is not the case without lots of hard work behind the scenes.

In his speech Councillor Richard Kemp, Deputy Leader of the LGA, not only thanked the services keeping that keep streets clean, tidy and safe for people, but recounted his experiences of being on the campaign trail in Liverpool. Cllr Kemp said, “When I go door knocking I often get told that people pay £1500 a year in council tax and all you do is collect the bins.”

“In response I often ask if people eat out or buy takeaways in Liverpool. I then ask if they had food poisoning. Then I ask if they use taxis, and if they do, have they ever been mugged?”

Making sure that people are safe to ride in taxis, that flytippers are prosecuted, or that dog fouling is not tolerated would not be possible without regulations and councils to implement and enforce them.  To help councils make the most effective use of the money and people available, LACORS has undertaken to support councils in streetscene and taxi licensing.

Daniel Instone, the first speaker for streetscene introduced the work of Defra’s Local Environment Quality Team, a team dedicated to dealing with issues like litter, graffiti and dog fouling on the streets, taking responsibility for cleaner neighbourhoods and encouraging greater care for the environment.

However, Daniel warned that the upcoming general election may result in changes at Defra, the different parties may have different priorities and only time will tell what impact this has for councils and Streetscene.

In a bid to show how the community, business and official organisations like councils and the police can come together, Robin Payne from the London Borough of Haringey outlined how they built a local partnership to achieve some good results. The presentation is available below.  

Paul Morris from Carmarthenshire County Council highlighted the range of enforcement tools and approaches that are avialable to councils to effectively tackle enviro-crime.

The priority now for the LACORS Streetscene team is following up on key issues highlighted during the session, and finalising the 2010-11 workplan to take account of discussions at the event. This plan will be circulated to council colleagues as soon as it’s available (through LACORS' website and email bulletins).

The first major Streetscene task for LACORS is, along with Improvement and Efficiency South East and the Waste Improvement Network, drafting a set of competencies for streetscene officer roles. Once they are drafted, council colleagues will be consulted to ensure that what is developed is as useful as possible for councils.

Meanwhile, Tom Moody from LACORS presented details of the scoping work that LACORS undertook in taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) licensing, highlighting where there were common areas of concern. During the session, the taxi and PHV workplan and board report were discussed, and delegates provided their thoughts, highlighting gaps in the plan - such as officers having additional fixed penalty notice powers and taxi licensing being part of a shared service.

Paul Lawry, Head of Taxi and Accessibility from the Department for Transport (DfT) gave details of future work at the DfT which included a consultation on improving disabled access to taxis, how the equality bill will affect taxi licensing, and licensing PHVs as a local bus service.

Roger Butterfield, from the Institute of Licensing, outlined their involvement in taxi licensing, and alongside a consultation that they are running, suggested that there is a significant need for reform.

Andrew Eaton, from Rother District Council, presented details of their penalty points enforcement system, an example of good practice that has been used successfully by many councils across the country.

Linda Cannon from Basingstoke and Dean District Council reported on how they solved the problem of unlicensed limousines, and John Miley, from Broxtowe Borough Council set the scene on how different standards and conditions can cause problems locally.

The conference highlighted a number of additional areas to review, which will be added to the taxi and PHV licensing workplan for 2010. LACORS will continue to visit councils who express interest over the coming months to support their concerns, and raise issues with the DfT directly.

We are seeking nominations for a national standards of conditions task and finish working group, and are looking to gather further examples of good practice to be posted on the LACORS website. For more information or to nominate a colleague please contact Tom Moody.

Presentations from the Streetscen and taxi licensing conference:

Defra priorities for streetscene and environmental crime for 2010/11, Daniel Instone, Programme Director, Defra 

Strategic and community partnership, Robin Payne, Head of Enforcement, London Borough of Haringey

LACORS taxi and PHV licensing scoping work and future work streams, Tom Moody, Policy Officer, LACORS

Department for Transport disability consultation/best practice guidance, Paul Lawry, Head of Taxi and Accessibility Policy, DfT

Institute of Licensing taxi licensing survey/future campaign, Roger Butterfield, IoL

Licensing stretched limousines, Linda Cannon, Licensing Manager, Basingstoke and Deane BC

Penalty points enforcement system, Andrew Eaton, Litigation and Licensing Lawyer, Rother DC

Standardising conditions, John Miley, NALEO/Broxtowe BC & Tom Moody, LACORS

Better regulation, better benefits:  getting the balance right, Hazel Russo, Assistant Director, Better Regulation Executive

How LACORS adds value to local regulatory services, Nick Baker, Strategic Director, North Norfolk Council