Agenda and draft minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

Members agreed the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 12 September 2023.

In the absence of Councillor Britcher, Councillor Austin chaired the meeting and invited Penny Button, Head of Neighbourhoods to lead the discussion first by sharing her views regarding the negative impact of tourism in Thanet and what lessons the Council could learn from other district councils that have faced similar experiences.

During her presentation, Penny Button made the following comments:

·  TDC had worked with event organisers to make them a worthwhile and positive experience for visitors and local residents;

·  There were some youth gatherings in Broadstairs and Margate;

·  These gatherings at certain spots were usually more prevalent at the beginning of the summer season. This peaked after the school exams;

·  More recently that had been at the beginning of the school holidays;

·  The Council worked with Kent Police on these issues. However, resources were limited;

·  Having knowledge of the local issues and environment was important in tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB);

·  Getting adequate numbers of police officers to patrol hotspots for youth ASB especially at peak times was always a challenge;

·  The Council was also facing the challenge of individuals who were camping on beaches;

·  Getting adequate officer numbers for enforcement was a challenge;

·  TDC officers went on a learning visit to Bournemouth in 2021 to see if they could emulate some of the approaches used by Bournemouth City Council;

·  Bournemouth had one beach and Thanet had three;

·  Bournemouth had a location on the beach where all agencies met daily to discuss enforcement issues. They had CCTV inside the meeting venue so they were always monitoring activities on their beach;

·  Bournemouth also used the Beach Check app for monitoring and they actively input information in the app;

·  TDC’s beach enforcement should use this app;

·  Zoning was also useful for attending and responding to incidents on beaches;

·  Bournemouth’s Community Safety Team was accredited and the Police just gives them some of their enforcement powers;

·  TDC was looking into that accreditation in order for the Community Safety Team to have more powers to enforce;

·  However, accreditation was an expensive exercise.

Members made comments and asked questions as follows:

·  With regards to accreditation of officers in the Community Safety Team, could TDC provide accreditation training subject to those officers staying with the Council for a stipulated number of years?

·  Could the Council stop advertising Botany Bay?

·  Were there any places near the popular places where parking could be provided and prevent access from those points?

·  Could signage for locating bins be made bigger and more visible for visitors to these popular sites?

·  Placing bins by bus stops would also mitigate against littering;

·  What was the potential for parking for coaches?

·  Considering that most of the enforcement activities were informal in terms of resolution of anti-social behaviour, what data did the Council have that could be used to understand the impact of PSPOs?

·  Was there a way of working with local community groups who organise events so that charges were not as high as they currently were?

·  Was there anything that officers would like the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.