Agenda item

Minutes

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 9 May 2017.

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 9 May 2017 be approved.

 

Vote of Thanks: At this point in proceedings, the Chairman called upon Deputy Joyce Nash, to deliver a Vote of Thanks to the immediate past Chairman. Deputy John Absalom, seconded the motion.

 

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY – That the Members of the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee wish to record their sincere thanks to:

 

WENDY MEAD, CHIEF COMMONER

 

who has shown enthusiasm and dedication for the duration of her time as Chairman since May 2014.

 

During her tenure as Chairman of the Committee, Wendy oversaw the implementation and development of various schemes aimed at improving the quality and cleanliness of streets across the City of London. The fruits of this labour have been officially recognised across the waste and cleansing industry and our services have received external recognition for our Public Conveniences, Street Environment and Enforcement services, Green Fleet Management, Cycle Safety, Recycling and various innovative, high profile campaigns.

 

However, the ones which stand out were the hotly contested Chartered Institute of Waste Management’s outright National Winner Clean Britain Awards (2015) and the Keep Britain Tidy Local Authority of the Year Award (2016). Wendy was with us at the award ceremonies and it was clear that along with the rest of our group she was very proud of the recognition the City of London had received.

 

Reinforcing this external recognition and our own positive view of our services, there has also been some hard evidence from various litter surveys conducted by Keep Britain Tidy, who have inspected our streets and consistently found them to be cleanest in the UK.

 

Wendy has also overseen a continued increase in throughput at the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre that has resulted in a corresponding rise in income to record levels.

 

She has supported the Trading Standards Team by attending the annual conference and hosting national workshops at Guildhall. Operation Broadway, the ground-breaking project to tackle investment fraud, jointly headed with the City of London Police, deservedly won a Police award, and the scheme has since been expanded across London.

 

More recently, Wendy opened the enlarged and refurbished Port Health office at London Gateway, the new container terminal on the Thames that is the most advanced and fastest growing port in the UK.

 

In addition to all this, Wendy has been a dedicated supporter of the Port Health Rowing Team both in ceremonial and competitive events, encouraging them to trounce the Port of London Authority in many races!

And so in taking leave of Wendy Mead as their Chairman, Members of this Committee wish to thank her for her service and excellent leadership and to wish her every possible success in the future.

 

The Chief Commoner thanked Members of the Committee for the three years in which she was Chairman noting the amazing work carried out to improve life for people in the City of London and along the river.

 

Following the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee’s Annual River Inspection and visit to the Heathrow Animal Centre on 30 June 2017, the Chairman thanked Robert Quest, Assistant Director Animal Health and Welfare and his team for hosting Members of the Committee and Cassandra Goddard for her work in arranging the logistics for the day. The Chairman explained that it was an informative and useful day for Members.

 

Matters Arising

 

Coffee Cup Recycling

A Member raised the point that Members of the Court of Common Council were still not using the coffee cup recycling facilities in the Members’ Room and in some instances were not emptying their cups before disposal. It was asked if signage could be posted in the Members’ Room to address this issue. In response, the Chairman explained that a note had been circulated to Members to ask that they use the recycling facilities and asked Officers to look into the signage in the Members’ Room.

 

Massage Parlours and Sex Establishments

The Director of Markets and Consumer Protection explained that further to the report submitted to the May meeting of the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee on action taken against non-compliant massage parlours and sex establishments, four of six premises had been inspected thus far, and of those four premises, one would be monitored closely over the coming months.

 

In response to the Chairman’s request for an update on the premises owned by the City Corporation, and were in breach of a covenant in their lease, the Comptroller and City Solicitor explained that a forfeiture notice had been served on the tenant requiring compliance, and that steps were being taken to monitor the situation.

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