PAPER C

Report

Report produced by

Steve Whalley. I.W.C. Environment Officer

Name of Meeting

Ryde Town Council meeting

Date and Time

27th of March 2025

Venue

Ryde Town Council offices.

1. Found on foot/vehicle patrols

While on patrol around the Ryde area I can come across various Fly postings and Fly Tips which I can report and have removed via Island Roads Usually with the Fly Tips they are removed within a 24-hour period from reporting. The Fly postings would be removed by myself. Members of the public also alert me to issues of fly tipping which I am happy to deal with to have removed. Thankfully this is not an everyday occurrence though I have probably dealt with 2 to 3 per calendar month.

Sadly, there have been some acts of Vandalism Occurring in Both Appley and Puckpool play areas of

late where items have been broken and needed to be removed by the IWC Maintenance Officer.

2. Fixed penalty notices

Due to the P.S.P.O.s being lapsed in 2024, no F.P.N.s have been issued currently over this reporting period. However, I am told the P.S.P.O. orders will back in place, so enforcement can be carried out for the summer period, to include Dogs on Beaches, dog fouling and that comes into operation at the

Beginning of May 2025.

I aim to seek further advice and guidance on this matter with my line manager Emily Tapsfield as I have a team meeting this week. And can then update on this matter further.

3. General inspections

General inspections currently include the following for Ryde. Beach Zone inspection. 2x a month this time of year.

Life belt and Housings. 1x a month this time of year. Play area inspections. 2x a month this time of year. Cemetery inspections. 1x a month this time a year.

Toilet Inspections. 1x a week.

Any issues would be forwarded to the IWC maintenance officer to repair / deal with any Toilet related issues would be forwarded to Ryde Town Council.

I would like to add that the Toilet inspections carried out seldom have any issues and are always in a

very good standard of cleanliness, compared to other parts of the Island.

4. Requested/targeted tasks

These have included dealing with a Caravan parked / left dumped off one of the roads near Swanmore road. And a motor Scooter abandoned in Lind place car park. Both of which finally got removed.

Sadly, dog fouling incidents in Ryde seem to be at a high, just like in most other towns. The issue is a problem island wide it seems.

Signage has been put up in various problem areas, with Ryde Town Council providing some of the

signs to put up in various hot spots.

I have upped my patrols in certain problem areas, though a lot of the fouling appears to be early mornings and late evening times, hours outside of my work core hours. There have been occasion’s where Island roads cleansing teams have been called out to clear the streets of fouling’s, though this would not be something they would do twice a week in the same road.

Targeted patrols need to be carried out and hopefully this can be started once conformation of the

P.S.P.O.s are in place for 2025. I believe that educating people is also important with dog fouling, most dog owners are not a problem, sadly it is the 1 or 2 percent that we need to educate and catch.

I have earlier this year carried out patrols in the Binstead area with Councillor Dore early A.M. regarding Dog Issues, if any other Councillor would wish to join me in a patrol in their area, I would be happy to participate with this.

I try my best to have a good relationship with Ryde town Council and aim to achieve any issues I have forwarded to myself via the Clerk in the shortest possible time frame, some of these tasks can be litter, dogs off leads in cemeteries, glass in shelters and esplanade areas, dead birds, broken items including wooden storm boarding all of which I undertake.

5. Miscellaneous

Nothing further to add at this time other than we would encourage any members of the public to report any Environment issues to the IWC Commercial services mailbox or Environment officer’s mailbox or to Ryde town Council whom in turn can pass on to the Environment Officers allocated to

the various Towns and Parishes.

On a positive note, I would like to say that I do get stopped now and again by members of the public that pass comments like how nice the Esplanade looks, how lovely Appley park and it’s walkway is and the Play parks for the children to play in, we are lucky to live in a Beautiful part of the Country, and I try my best to help keep it tidy by being your Environment officer