During the cabinet
member presentation, Councillor Albon, Cabinet Member for
Operational Services made following comments:
·
This was a different summer from the
normal summers that are usually experienced in Thanet. There was
great weather and the country was coming out of national lockdown
that had been imposed as a measure to manage the global covid-19
pandemic;
·
The government encouraged the public to
go to the beaches in July, as going abroad was not an option,
Thanet experienced an unusually large number of visitors to the
local beaches;
·
Very little social distancing was
observed. There were some incidents of anti social behaviour that
included littering and dangerous parking;
·
The Council met with a number of agencies
and came up with a Beach Management Plan to manage visitors on
Thanet beaches;
·
There were weekly operational orders
shared with other agencies. There was a beach supervisor who picked
up on any issues that were quickly arising and liaising on the
appropriate agency that would deal with such matters;
·
There was greater cooperation between the
council’s security and enforcement officers and CCTV
personnel in tackling any incident that arose at the beaches. The
council staff did their work quite well;
·
New signage was introduced and electronic
boards were put up to advise the public on the status of visitor
numbers at beaches;
·
TDC linked up with London Boroughs to
share the information on Thanet beaches to reach out to as wide an
audience as was possible;
·
The Cabinet Member and Leader of Council
conducted a number of broadcasts to share key
messages;
·
Coastal signage was refreshed. A summary
poster of TDC bye-laws was produced for the public and
businesses;
·
Moving forward, a communications plan
would be devised and a review of operational presence at beaches
would be conducted;
·
Operational works would be done to put
barriers at beaches to prevent some of the anti-social
behaviour;
·
Meetings with the business community
would conducted to the visitor environment during summer
period;
·
Council was working with a community
group (Rise Up, Clean Up) to provide litter bag dispensers at the
beaches.
Councillor Albon
praised the Council staff and other agencies for the hard work
during this summer gone.
Members asked
questions and made comments as follows:
-
Ramsgate Town Council was included in the
consultation between all the stakeholders on the management
of Ramsgate Main Sands;
-
Members thanks TDC for coordinating this stakeholder
consultation in very difficult circumstances and creating an
enjoyable environment for the visitors during the summer
period;
-
Seaweed was a problem at some beaches. It might help
to put messages went out first when the seaweed problem
started;
-
Were smart bins in place for summer?
-
Can the council do something more proactive about
shellfish harvesting by the public?
-
What was the cost of the extra resources that were
allocated to the beach management by the council?
-
Was the council going to be compensated by the
government for incurring that extra cost to their budget,
considering that the government encouraged the public to visit the
seaside areas (at a time when travelling abroad was not
possible?
-
Was the council planning to provide a similar budget
for 2021/21?
-
Security officers have so few powers regarding
managing behaviour on the beaches. Was there anything the council
could do about the issue of controlling alcohol on the
beaches?
-
Were there plans to put out temporary toilets again
next summer?
-
Could the council make an arrangement with the
business premises like pubs and restaurants to let the public use
the business premises toilet facilities?
Responding to Member
questions and comments, Councillor Albon and Gavin Waite, Director
of Communities said the following:
-
Seaweed was an issue for some areas particularly in
Birchington and Westgate on Sea. The
council would look into this issue and see if there could be a
better way of managing that issue. The problem that the council
faced was how to remove the seaweed without damaging the protected
chalk area;
-
There were a limited number of smart bins, because
these were expensive. Each bin costs about £4,000 as opposed
to the £300 per bin that the council pays for the current
bins being used. However sensors have been installed on some of the
larger bins;
-
Floor stickers and some signage for cycling on the
promenades had been put up. The council was now bidding for money
to fund cycling lanes;
-
Collection of shellfish at local beaches by
family groups was permissible within limits, however commercial
harvesting was not. It was important to make sure that guidelines
for shellfish harvesting were followed;
-
As part of budget setting additional funding was set
aside as part of covid-19. The council was allocated an additional
£1million for across the board council expenditure. The
council had gone back to the government requesting additional
resources. Cost of the security at the beaches to manage the issue
of social distancing was an additional cost;
-
The council had established a good working
relationship with partner agencies. This collaborative working
would be pursued again next year;
-
A PSPO (Public Spaces Protection Order) regarding
dog restrictions was out to public consultation. In order to make
enforcement easier, the council would start turning bye-laws into
PSPOs. This was a significant piece of work;
-
Once some of the bye-laws were changed to PSPOs then
fixed penalty charges could be imposed for offending behaviour.
This will be considered as part of the main review leading to a
refreshed Beach Management Plan;
-
Council officers had been in discussions with
various business premises to arrange for the use of their
toilets by the public;
-
Council was still reviewing its own public toilet
facilities.
Members thanked
Councillor Albon and noted the report.