COUNCILLOR RIDE

Councillor Ride welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained that he had been an elected Member of CBC for over two years. It was a pleasure for him to welcome the Southern Enforcement Officers' Group (SEOG) and he emphasised how important the meetings were

He spoke of how, in his opinion, planning enforcement was the most important service a Local Authority provided. He confirmed his respect and appreciation for the work undertaken by Enforcement Officers. Councillor Ryde talked about the importance of dealing with traveller/gypsy related issues properly and, in so doing, setting precedence for the community. He informed the Group that CBC had just been through a re-organisation process which had produced good learning curves for the council.

Councillor Ride discussed problems of adequately dealing with enforcement matters due to lack of resources and how this unsatisfactory situation impacts upon the ability of the Council to provide a full service to the electorate. Issues involving travellers/gyspies needed to be dealt with swiftly before the sites became too big and therefore more difficult to manage. He added that councils should not be seen as being 'soft' regarding enforcement matters as this may encourage more breaches of planning control to take place.

Councillor Ride stressed that dealing with unauthorised occupation of land did not discriminate against a minority, but encouraged conformity. He added that the numbers of travellers/gypsies in the borough of CBC had increased and the council was adopting a programme with a view to include purpose built sites.

Finally, Councillor Ride reiterated how important the Group was and expressed his thanks for being invited.

Jim Lynn informed the Group that Paul Corbett ( Web Master ) had recently 're-vamped' the SEOG web site. Unfortunately Paul was unable to attend today's meeting but nevertheless he would welcomed any comments relating to the format/content of the web site - Paul can be contacted via the webmaster link

CHRISTINE LYONS - (Chelmsford Borough Council) - 'Managing Unauthorised Traveller Development - the issues and the way forward.'

Christine gave an informative and detailed presentation on the difficulties faced by Chelmsford Borough Council when applying direct action regarding unauthorised traveller development. She explained the route that CBC took may not be the best for every local authority but hoped that lessons could be learned from the council's experience. Christine explained that the usual courses of action had proved to be ineffective, following a new administration, it was decided to take direct action where appropriate to deal with unauthorised planning issues.

Christine discussed the steps CBC had taken to implement direct action and offered to share advice and information. She stressed that before any decision was taken on direct action, an in depth committee report should be submitted. She was willing to let other authorities have sight of the one CBC had submitted.

She also informed the audience that a Working Group needs to be formed as decisions on unauthorised planning issues cannot be carried out by the Planning Department alone. In addition Councils also need to set up clear external partnerships to support any action and produce a clear communication strategy, supported by a press pack. Christine discussed issues which needed attention during and after the direct action had been implemented, including cost implications and being aware of race equality.

Members of the audience discussed issues relating to publicising the date of direct action, supply of utilities, support from police and abandoned caravans.

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Jim Lynn expressed his gratitude for the insight from CBC and thanked Christine for her time. He emphasised that every site is different and should be judged on its own merits.

TONY BARTLETT - (Dover Council) - 'Fly Tipping - the Kent Approach'

Tony gave a presentation on fly tipping and the joint three year campaign called Clean Kent Campaign which had been formed between Kent County Council and Dover District Council. He explained that the campaign concentrated on working with the community to help prevent fly tipping and aims at educating the young.

Tony explained that despite crime figures going down, residents still didn't feel safe. Contributory factors to this were abandoned vehicles, graffiti, untaxed motor vehicles and fly tipping.

Tony added that North Kent had a particular problem where truck loads of rubbish being transported from the city ( London ) to North Kent, resultant from the significant level of re-development. Unfortunately, due to lack of resources dealing with fly tipping had not been a priority.

Tony recommended the use of camera systems to help catch fly tippers. Covert cameras were particularly beneficial. He added that a private company called Enigma ( based in Peterborough ) produced an excellent system which included a digital recording system, radio system, LCD PIR and replaceable hard drive.

Tony concluded that if residents felt safe in their community, this would save time and resources as they would not be contacting their Local Authority so often. Jim thanked Tony for attending at such short notice and agreed that camera surveillance could help local authorities deal with other problem areas as well as fly tipping.

Tony added that councils need to set down a clear policy on surveillance and make sure that human rights/R.I.P.A. requirements are fully covered.

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CHRIS GAUNT - (Simmons Aerofilms) - 'Geo - reference - Oblique photography, a new process for taking and interpreting of aerial photography.'

Chris demonstrated a software package using aerial photography, as developed for USA military. He showed that in using the technology, areas or buildings etc. could readily be viewed, and calculations of heights of buildings and other measurements made on screen. Master maps, such as ordnance survey detail, could be superimposed onto the photograph. Also comparisons could easily be made with older maps. In addition, shadows could be processed out to thereby improve visibility of an area and contours could be added to the image.

Members of the Group discussed privacy laws. Chris explained that the image 'pixelates' when zooming in on a variety of settings. Chris added that then photographic data bases are updated every two years. Jim supported the new technology as it was user friendly and could be e-mailed saving time.

Jim thanked Chris for attending at such short notice. Simmons website: www.simmonsaerofilm.com

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JENNY BULL - (DVLA) - 'Intelligence Issues. Exchange of information between Enforcement Agencies'

Jenny gave a presentation on intelligence issues and how the DVLA can help enforcement agencies. She discussed the vast amount of information that the DVLA held on its databases including the Driver and Vehicle Intelligence Database (DaVID). Many other organisations use the data. For example registration documents are used by credit reference agencies, insurance investigators and the Police forces.

Jenny talked about the DVLA's focus on intelligence to stop criminals using the service to facilitate crime or profit, to reduce crime generally and to enable the agency to be an effective partner to local authorities/other relevant organisations. She also explained how enforcement officers can register their vehicle via local authority addresses in order to restrict access to personal details by unwanted parties. Alternatively the DVLA can put a block on the information held so details can not normally be disclosed. The use of this provision would prevent the sending of road fund licence renewal advice.

Jim thanked Jenny for attending.

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CLOSE OF MEETING

Jim Lynn thanked the speakers who had kindly given up their time and to everyone for coming.

Jim also asked for delegates to consider in helping with the organising/running of meetings proposed for summer and autumn of 2006.

NEXT MEETING Friday 2 December 2005 - VENUE: Imber Court, Metropolitan Police Club, East Molesey, Surrey to be sponsored by CHICHESTER DISTRICT COUNCIL

- "'Managing Unauthorised Traveller Development - the issues and the way forward "

- "Geo - reference - Oblique photography, a new process for taking and interpreting of aerial photography."