A NIGHT-TIME "enforcement team" is set to be introduced as part of a swathe of new plans to tackle the scourge of fly-tipping.
The move would see Derby City Council bring in, for the first time, a manned council vehicle which community workers in Normanton will help guide to rubbish-dumping hot spots after dark.
Two people from the area's Roma community will be employed by the council to "engage and educate" people from the same background about waste disposal.
Other plans in the pipeline include training council "street champions" on the difficult task of gathering evidence against fly-tippers.
Council leader Ranjit Banwait said that there was "a political will for the changes" but that "the reality is we need the community to work with us much more closely".
The measures have been announced following pressure from the Derby Telegraph and local community organisation the Normanton Empowerment Team (NET).
Dawn Gee, a landlord for Normanton properties and member of NET, said: "We welcome the announcement that the council will be engaging with the Roma community as we think there are real barriers here that need breaking down."
Mr Banwait admitted: "There are issues in Normanton. Normanton has changed and it's changed for the worse – I think we have to acknowledge that."
But while it may sound like a gloomy perspective, it was followed by his revealing proposals to tackle the problem, which give cause for optimism.
The council's Labour leadership had already announced some plans to deal with the tipping blight.
These included a rapid expansion of its "street champions" scheme, in which residents agree to be a point of contact on their road for fly-tipping complaints and queries.
Now Mr Banwait has used the meeting with Normanton Empowerment Team – a group campaigning for more to be done about fly-tipping – to announce a bold new set of plans.
These are:
A council night-time enforcement team that will, for the first time, use intelligence from the community and the empowerment team to crack down on fly-tippers after dark.
Training for the street champions so they know what evidence is needed to prosecute fly-tippers.
Employing two members of the city's Roma community part-time to educate and speak to people about the dos and don'ts of waste management.
Introducing a permit system for private landlords in the city designed to tackle poor management and property conditions.
Under this, landlords would have to pay for a permit with conditions attached that would help the council ensure landlords do all they can to tackle fly-tipping.
In the 12 months to March, there were 6,651 incidents of fly-tipping in the city – 5,173 in the Normanton and Arboretum wards.
The council has been criticised for not prosecuting anyone for fly-tipping in the five years between 2009-10 and 2013-14.
But it has maintained that the law, as it stands, makes it difficult to do so.
At the empowerment team meeting, the authority's deputy chief executive, Paul Robinson, said the same level of proof was needed as for murder.
He said: "Unless you can identify the person who put it [the waste] there, you cannot prosecute.
"So you may well be able to find a bag with somebody's name on [in the fly-tipping] but I can't actually prosecute you for that.
"We need to change the law to make it a very simple offence.
"No council member of staff has the ability to arrest anybody.
"We can't make a person stay in a place while we gather evidence."
Mr Robinson said the training offered to street champions would include details of what was needed to prosecute.
The person making the allegation would need to include the name and address of the fly-tipper as part of a witness statement saying that they would also be prepared to swear under oath.
The statement would also need to include the time, date and place of the offence.
He said that this would need to be provided as soon as possible after the incident and that photos and video could help but that they were not sufficient evidence on their own.
Mr Robinson said a change in the law was needed to make it "simpler" for the council to prosecute.
Mr Banwait said the night-time enforcement team was a response to calls for the council to have a "more visible presence" on the streets.
He told the empowerment team: "We will be looking for [paid] volunteers among council employees and we'll have an enforcement team at night.
"There is no service anywhere in the country that provides a nighttime dedicated service to the extent that you're looking for.
"We will provide a team that will use a council vehicle equipped with a neighbourhood team member.
"We will see if we can get police involved as well.
"So, if we do see somebody doing something, we will be able to do something about it."
He added that a key part of the work would be the team itself, which he asked to provide volunteers to find out where the worst dumping takes place.
Mr Banwait said: "You will be able to help us target these hotspot areas. You'll be able to say to us, 'In our experience, this is where we need to be going'."
Councillor Asaf Afzal, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and Streetpride, said the two new Roma community workers would be in post by September.
He said the council wanted to take its time to find the right people – probably from among the ranks of the street champions.
Mr Afzal said: "This isn't just a straightforward case of having interpreters.
"The project role is to engage and educate around waste management."
Mr Banwait said that having Roma people in positions like this could "raise aspirations".
Most Roma people in Derby come from Eastern European countries where they may face persecution and have limited opportunities.
The council leader said: "The issue is that they don't trust authority. They don't trust people like me.
"They don't trust the police. They don't because they were persecuted by these people in their own country."
Mrs Gee welcomed many of the council proposals but said it would be "difficult" for some of the volunteers to work through the night on the enforcement patrol.
Speaking for the team after the meeting, she asked: "Shouldn't this work be completed by council officials?
"We welcome the announcement that the council will be engaging with the Roma community as we think there are real barriers here that need breaking down.
"We advised Ranjit that we work with a Roma who speaks nine languages and we felt his services would be useful."
She said that the street champions plan was "positive" but that the group would prefer to see "a similar scheme to Crimestoppers where anonymity could be granted".
She added: "We are happy to attend a training day put on by the council to help assist in gathering evidence, subject to it fitting around our work commitments.
"The empowerment team stated that it felt all ward councillors should attend this training and it may also benefit local police beat officers."
People who spot fly-tipped waste should report it to the council, either by calling Derby 642020 or filling in a form at www.derby. gov.uk/report-it.
