Town centres to receive wardens within weeks

Photo: Journeaux

Rochdale Town Centre

Town centre wardens for Rochdale, Middleton, Heywood and Littleborough are expected to be in post ‘within the next four to six weeks’, the Council meeting heard on Wednesday (12 July).

Councillor Irene Davidson showed her approval during Cabinet Member for Housing & Environment, Neil Emmott’s report.

She commented that it was a ‘marvellous idea’ after sharing an experience last week in the town centre with ‘louts dropping paper’ on Yorkshire Street.

Councillor Emmott added people ‘will be prosecuted’ for illegally tipping.

Interviews have been held and offers made in respect of the four dedicated posts.

The wardens will provide a highly visible and predominantly town centre based presence and will deal with relatively low-level environmental offences such as littering, dog fouling, commercial waste issues and A-board issues mainly by way of Fixed Penalty Notices.

The former roles of Environmental Quality Officers, Environment Wardens, and Crime Reduction and Anti-Social Behaviour Officers have now been re-designated into nine Public Realm Inspector Roles. All inspectors are now in post and are each working in their designated areas.

Alongside their day-to-day work, the Public Realm Inspectors have been heavily involved in preparations for both the Big Clean and the forthcoming ‘In Bloom’ inspections.

The process of identifying, negotiating, procuring and testing appropriate software and hardware to enable all inspectors and wardens is nearing its conclusion. This will allow them to issue Fixed Penalty Notices, with an appropriate case management system to effectively manage the anticipated volumes Fixed Penalty Notices from issue to prosecution.

All inspectors and wardens are to have body cameras to reduce aggression and to be used for evidential purposes as necessary. A provisional “go – live” date has been pencilled in for the end of July.