Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Development and Safety

RESOLVED THAT

1)    a £10k additional budget allocation for 2019-20 be agreed, funded from additional income generated in 2018-19; and

2)    the Enforcement Manager be instructed to develop and implement a costed action plan, within identified resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member Development and Safety.

The Cabinet Member Development and Safety introduced the report and made reference to the scrutiny task group report which Cabinet had considered in December 2018 but at the time had not endorsed its specific recommendations.

He reported that officers were currently working on costing the recommendations but at this stage Cabinet was requested to agree the additional £10k in the budget which was necessary to include further nest identification and egg oiling in time for the nesting season.

He was aware of the issues for residents and wished to address these. He stated however that the recommendation to purchase a drone for the purposes of identifying nests would not be appropriate at this time given government guidelines on flying drones within a 5km radius of an airport.

When asked whether sonic deterrents could be used in residential areas or in areas where gulls fed the Cabinet Member explained that officers would look into this. He highlighted the difficulty in finding what worked and what didn’t work.

RESOLVED THAT

1)    a £10k additional budget allocation for 2019-20 be agreed, funded from additional income generated in 2018-19; and

2)    the Enforcement Manager be instructed to develop and implement a costed action plan, within identified resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member Development and Safety.