Agenda item - Field Officers

A Field Officer’s update on their work

66.1    Annie Sparks updated on the Field Officer (FO) team – and introduced FOs Tom and Dario who also attended the meeting.  She confirmed that they had been active since 3rd December 2018, that FOs work from 12 – 8pm over a 7-day rota and that all FOs were employed on annualised contracts to provide flexibility. She confirmed that they worked with a range of services including:  city parks, planning, regulatory services, and housing and that FOs were getting out & about making referrals for repairs and anti-social behaviour (ASB) and responding to complaints. She emphasised that the FOs work should be fast & effective with housing colleagues working with FOs to get intelligence and information in order to make observations to inform more complex cases.  She also confirmed that the FOs would be responsible for the new estate inspections and that Brett Stacey was attending area housing panel meetings with his colleagues in order to try and define a new model for estate inspections.  She confirmed that this should be particular needs for the community and environmental improvements and was still a work in progress. It was also confirmed that Hilary Edgar had more information on the Don’t Walk By policy that the FOs are involved in.

66.2    Annie Sparks confirmed that there were seven FOs already in post and working with other services and that the FO team were knocking on doors and carrying out problem solving field work in order to resolve residents issues. The aims were to resolve complaints more quickly and to understand why the complaints were happening. She also said that they had a committee report to be submitted to NICE in July and that there would be scrutiny around this.

66.3    A resident queried whether the FOs could assist with cars parked on the pavement obstructing the pedestrian right of way.  Annie Sparks replied that FOs cannot enforce parking issues but could refer cases on.

66.4    A resident asked if FOs would deal with bicycle parking – where bikes were chained to a lamp post.  Annie Sparks replied that the team had talked to colleagues in the Highways department and that they were already liaising with Parking about tagging abandoned bikes and parked bikes causing an obstruction near street lights and they were checking how these issues could be best reported.

66.5    A resident stated that on narrow pavements, the big wheelie bins were being left out, forcing pedestrians out into the road and was this an issue that the FO team could resolve.  Annie Sparks replied that the FOs were not currently carrying out work for Cityclean but that it was likely that the FOs would gather evidence for Cityclean in the future.

66.6    A resident asked if the neighbourhood action plan would be linked in with the FO team and Annie replied that it was and that in addition the new PCSOs Karn and Chamberlin was keen that local policing plans were also linked to the neighbourhood actions plans in order to inform estate inspections and she confirmed that there had been good joint working already happening with the police.  She also stated that there would be an article in the FO team in the next issue of Homing In.

66.7    A partially sighted resident reported the hazard of rubbish bins in the street and why they could not be located in a wider part of the road.  Annie Sparks confirmed that this could be reported directly to Cityclean. She added that she hoped that the FO team will get to know residents and form relationships, so that they could be the eyes and ears for residents within the community.

66.8    A resident asked if FOs were attached to particular areas and Annie explained that they were based citywide and that they had access to buses and the city car club to access all areas quickly but that the team will look at whether it may be more appropriate to designate different areas to different FOs in the future. She confirmed the contact telephone number for the FO team was: tel: 01273 291485