Minutes:
The Wentlooge representative asked was there an officer in post and what was the officers name.
The Chair stated that there was no designated officer in post, and this was why their details were not published on the website. Community Councils were advised to log onto the Council website under the Community Protection Team part of the website for the generic number.
It was advised that at the moment there was a senior management structure change, and the services were being realigned so could move between service areas.
The Chair confirmed that this information came under the Public Protection Team under the neighbourhood team under Michelle Tett. On the website was a generic email address and contact number and there was a form online to fill in for a trigger request. It was a Multi-disciplinary team involved so there was no one point of contact.
The Marshfield representative commented on anti-social behaviour officers and what their role was.
The Chair explained that within the Community Safety Team there were Community Safety Wardens and then as part of that there were Environmental Officers and two Antisocial Behaviour Officers, and they liaised with Police and other agencies. Michelle Tett was the current manager in Environmental Health.
The Wentlooge asked that in terms of personal protection for council officers in doing their job as sometimes Councillors got involved in certain situations e.g., intimidation, does the community trigger offer any protection for this.
The Chair clarified that this was anti-social and not criminal behaviour, so the Community Trigger was about antisocial behaviour so noise and disturbance, and general anti-social behaviour. In relation to intimidation and personal safety then these issues should be reported to the Police.
The Chair explained that the lower-level anti-social behaviour could be dealt with by a range of measures such as fixed penalty notices, but these were not criminal.
The Marshfield representative asked about reporting noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour on an industrial site, was this an issue something a trigger can be used for.
The Chair stated that statutory noise nuisance was dealt with separately and if it was a noise nuisance that this should be reported to the environmental health side of that section as Community triggers were for low level. Statutory noise nuisance was of a much higher level where expert environmental health officers were needed to assess the level of noise.
If there was a noise nuisance this needed to be reported to the contact centre who would pass this on to environmental health it gets passed to that team and so this needed to be investigated under statutory rules.
The Marshfield representative stated that they had received an email from Brian Miles of Wentlooge Community Council stating that because National Resources Wales permit this site this was not something Newport City Council got involved with.
The Marshfield Representative explained that there were complaints about the site for a number of years.
The Chair commented that he did not know this particular case so could not comment.
The Wentlooge representative mentioned the authorities view of process which they feel they have been misadvised as they were advised that the situation would be covered by community trigger.
The Chair commented on whether these were qualifying complaints as the complaints had to be anti-social behaviour and it was not a way of reviewing the inaction of police and it was a collective way of dealing with behaviour e.g., lower-level noise.
The Wentlooge representative asked about protection for community council members in the community.
The Chair confirmed that this would be a police matter and not a community trigger as other agencies involved in the community trigger cannot deal with criminal complaints.
The Marshfield Representative asked about the Community trigger being used under circumstances of inaction.
The Chair stated that it was a last resort and the complaints had to relate to the correct type of anti-social behaviour.
The Marshfield representative commented on the lack of action on lots of complaints about noise and noise pollution.
The Chair stated that the criminal behaviour went to Police, the lower-level anti-social behaviour complaints went to Community Wardens and what the Marshfield representative referred to -Statutory Noise Nuisance was a case for the Environmental Health Internal Complaints procedure. A senior manager would have to review this as a corporate complaint.