Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Jan Sweeting and Richard Lewis with Councillors Scott Farley and John Morgan substituting.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting dated 21 September 2021 be agreed as an accurate record.

It was confirmed that all items were marked Part 1 and would be considered in public.

The Chairman briefly introduced the item highlighting that it was the second of three witness sessions composing the information gathering phase of the Committee’s review into Electric Vehicles (EVs), EV infrastructure and future policy direction. The Committee began by welcoming Adam Heritage to the meeting, a Hillingdon resident who had been considering the purchase of an EV for some time, however remained cautious due to several reasons, including:

• He did not have access to off-street parking and therefore could not charge a prospective EV at home.

• The current local availability of publicly accessible EV charge points was minimal and not enough to rely on for an individual with no off-street parking.

• The reality of owning an EV in his current situation would mean regularly finding a public car park with EV charging provision that would also be open overnight. This would induce ‘range anxiety’ which was a major barrier in purchasing an EV.

• Further to range anxiety, returning home after any long trips would mean charging the EV just before finally reaching home, this was seen as a common inconvenience for those without access to home charging.

• The battery component of EVs was still the largest signifier of cost, if an EV had a larger battery, it would be significantly more expensive to purchase; therefore, if there was access to an EV charge point within walking distance, he would have the option of purchasing a more affordable EV with a lower battery capacity.

The Committee were informed that, working in central London, Mr Heritage had a number of colleagues who had already purchased EVs despite not having any available off-street parking, and therefore off-street charging facility, at their respective homes; they had felt confident enough to purchase an EV after liaising with their local Council’s to have a publicly accessible charger installed on or near their street. It was also noted that, thus far, Mr Heritage’s experience liaising with the Council in Spring 2021, to have a publicly accessible EV charge point installed close to his home had been difficult. There was no information available on the Council’s website regarding how one could go about expressing interest in having a public charging point installed nearby, this led to him reaching out through other related Council departments for assistance. Mr Heritage raised concerns that he had to repeatedly follow up with Councillors and officers to obtain useful information around charging options and felt that Hillingdon was not, at the time, doing its part to help promote the transition from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to EVs.

The Committee were grateful to hear from the perspective of a resident and felt that the need for residents to have access to consistent information and to have their expectations managed regarding the provision of EV charge points in the Borough was vital; it was suggested that a standard operating procedure for when residents expressed interest in a prospective on-street charging point could be introduced to avoid any confusion.

With regard to the availability of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

Dan Kennedy, Corporate Director for Planning, Environment, Education and Community Services, was present for this item and gave the Committee an overview of the Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour and Enforcement Team (ASBET) and some of the changes that would be taking place to the service. Members were informed that ASBET dealt with a broad spectrum of issues from low level nuisance to serious harassment, which could cause distress, damage quality of life and interfere with the ability for people to enjoy the peace and quiet of their home, local environment and community. The Council’s response team was composed of three types of officers:

• Case Officers - who dealt with reports of harassment and neighbourhood nuisance and manage long standing case work.

• Rapid Response Officers - who dealt with the majority of environmental nuisances for example depositing waste material and littering, flyposting, dog fouling, abandoned vehicles, overgrown gardens, vermin infestations.

• Out of Hours Officers – night rota - who primarily dealt with noise nuisance.

The Committee were also informed that, where possible, visible patrols were coordinated with police in hotspot areas.

Members noted that the ASBET service typically received a stable amount of service requests at around 1,000 per month; there was usually a seasonal spike in the summer months primarily related to noise complaints. Roughly half of service enquiries came through the Council’s Contact Centre and half came through the online self-service tool. 24% of enquiries were concerning the depositing of waste material, it was noted that officers did follow up with fly-tipping prosecutions where evidence was obtained however gathering evidence was often very resource intensive and the priority was removing the waste. 23% of enquiries were noise related and officers addressed these where complaints persisted. 15% of enquiries were vehicle related incidents, primarily where vehicles had been abandoned.

Officers gave some examples of positive outcomes noting that joint working and prosecution with a neighbouring local authority had resulted in the conviction of an offender for 16 offences related to illegal waste disposal across the two Boroughs. CCTV images of perpetrators fly tipping were now being circulated on social media platforms for identification purposes. Officers had identified six offenders from CCTV footage provided by the CCTV Control Room which resulted in Fixed Penalty Notices being issued.

The Committee were also given an overview of the Council’s new approach to Anti-Social Behaviour with a move towards proactive prevention in the first instance rather than reactive enforcement; although it was highlighted that enforcement would still be a key part of the service particularly where early intervention methods may not be achieving results. From August 2021, ASBET had moved towards a geographical patch-based model, this would allow officers to dedicate their resource to designated wards and areas and build a relationship with local Ward Councillors and give officers an improved understanding of the complexities of their specific area. Previously, officers had worked all over the Borough travelling between jobs and weren’t getting to know specific areas. A key facet of the new prevention model  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

The Committee noted the items listed on the Forward Plan. The Democratic Services Officer informed Members that, since the publication of the meeting agenda, a new Forward Plan had been published with one additional item listed under the Public Safety and Transport portfolio for the January 2022 Cabinet meeting; this was the Electric Vehicle Charge Point and Infrastructure Contract.

RESOLVED That the Committee noted the Forward Plan.

RESOLVED That the Select Committee noted the items listed on the work programme.