Big Conversation - Have your say!

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Hartlepool Borough Council has a regular cleansing programme aimed to coincide with demand when litter and rubbish is likely to increase. Consequently public waste bins are located outside premises that generate a higher waste demand such as fast food premises.

Such demand is monitored and where necessary, the size of waste bin or frequency of collections can be increased (be that based on seasonal or permanent demand).

Premises such as shops and takeaways are required to ensure they have an adequate commercial waste collection contract in place. The volume of waste they generate is subject to inspection and the Enforcement Team both inspect the contracts such businesses have in place and issue Section 47 Notices to premises that do not comply.

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Grass verges are often part of the public highway and therefore an asset protected and maintained by the Highways Team. Some grass verges are also controlled by formal parking restrictions (enforceable via local Traffic Regulation Orders). Where such restrictions are in place, they are depicted by carriageway markings, road signs or a combination of both.

Parking restrictions apply from the centre of the carriageway to the back of any building line present and will often therefore include the road itself, footpath and any verge. Such enforcement is made by Civil Enforcement Officers under the jurisdiction of The Traffic Management Act.

Other measures used by the local authority to protect verges may be to prohibit access using physical barriers or (if deemed appropriate) to resurface or strengthen verges and allow vehicles to park. The Council has a limited budget each year for verge tarmacking works, which allows a small number of schemes to be implemented in that year. Locations are prioritised based on how bad a condition they are in, and also the benefit they would provide to local residents/ businesses, etc.

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Advertising signs and banners left on the public highway (for example, attached to street furniture and barriers) are deemed as fly posting and are removed by Civil Enforcement Officers. Often the siting of signs and banners can obstruct visible sight lines for drivers and therefore create a road safety concern for highway users. 

Signs are removed when reported to the enforcement team or seen whilst officers are on patrol. We will then follow up with retrospective action taken against the organisers of the event or business that is being promoted.

We are not aware of a current ‘proliferation of old road signs’ (by 'road signs' I'm assuming you mean official highways road signs e.g. the white or green directional road signs or the brown tourist location signs) but if there are specific locations of concern then these can be checked out and dealt with as appropriate. You can report any old, out of date or damaged official signage to our customer services team using any of the methods below:

Telephone: 01429 266522

Email: customer.service@hartlepool.gov.uk 

In person: by visiting the Civic Centre, Victoria Road, Hartlepool, TS24 8AY

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Dog fouling is enforced by Civil Enforcement Officers along with a number of other dog related control measures such as “dogs on lead areas” and seasonal “dog exclusion zones”. 

In relation to dog fouling, officers make regular patrols to known problematic areas and / or in response to reports from members of the public. This can also include out of hours enforcement where we have sufficient evidence to justify such visits. Consequently members of the public who report dog fouling can be asked to complete diary sheets prior to any scheduled enforcement in order to build up a pattern of regular exercising times and to help maximise the chances of the officer witnessing any owner that fails to pick up after their dog. Offenders are served with a Fixed Penalty Notice.

Officers also report sites where people are placing the dog foul bags to the Waste Team so that they can assess the need for additional dog waste bins to be installed in these locations to prevent this issue. In many locations around the town dog waste bags can be placed in litter bins, avoiding the need for additional dog waste bins. These litter bins are clearly marked with signage informing dog walkers of this fact.

The Cleansing Team also have a scheduled cleansing programme which covers known problematic footpaths and back lanes with any dog fouling regularly removed.

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You haven't specified, but I'm guessing that the spending you are referring to is for regeneration projects such as the restoration of the Wesley Chapel and the re-imagining of the shopping centre. The funding for these projects came from the Council submitting a bid to the Government's Town Deal initiative. As a result of this bid we were able to secure £25 million to spend on five specific regeneration projects.

The funding through Town Deal comes with strict criteria on what it can be spent on i.e. only capital (building and restoration) projects and town regeneration schemes. The Council cannot use this external money to pay for existing council services and the projects must be approved by government.

You can find out more about the Town Deal, including about how the five Town Deal projects were selected and the answers to a wide range of questions we have already received about the projects, by following the link to our Town Deal and Capital Projects hub.

Thank you

Hello and thank you for your question.

Council tax is one of a number of funding sources for Local authorities. Other funding sources includes Business Rates, Fees and Charges and Specific and non-Specific Government grants. Since 2010 there has been greater emphasis on funding Councils through local sources of income, such as Council tax and Business Rates.

The Business Rates system puts Hartlepool at a distinct funding disadvantage compared to most areas of the country. In addition, in areas such as Hartlepool and the North East, greater reliance on Council tax provides challenges given we have a “low tax base” i.e. a much greater proportion of our properties are in a low tax band A and B (70%) and a lower proportion in high tax bands G and H (1%). Using Westminster Council as a comparator, their figures are only 6% in Band A and B,  but 31% in band G and H. As higher banded properties pay more Council tax, this means that a 1% increase on Council Tax in these areas would provide a significantly higher income than is the case in Hartlepool. Despite Westminster being the lowest Council Tax in the country, because of their tax bands for every 1% increase in Council tax, they still generate circa £0.200m more funding than Hartlepool.  

Whilst some government grants aim to compensate for this position, the overall funding system for Local Government is scheduled for a “Fair Funding Review” which, we hope, will fully recognise both relative funding available to Councils and also relative need for services, many of which are driven by higher level of deprivation. The earliest this is likely to be introduced is 2026/27.

In addition to the funding side of the equation, Hartlepool has high deprivation resulting in high needs for its residents. This leads to greater costs, particularly for Childrens and Adults Social Care. With regard Childrens Social Care, costs for placing a child into care outside of the Council have increased by 45% over the last three years. The average cost of providing this service is now approximately £5,000 per week, and some placements can cost more than £11,000 per week for one child. The government did recognise the pressure all Councils were experiencing with the increased demand for Adult Social Care and in 2015 introduced additional funding and the Adult Social Care Precept. However, again we are unable to raise enough through this mechanism than the likes of Westminster and other councils in more affluent areas

Despite the challenges, the Council strives to provide value for money and keep Council tax as low as can be.  However, over recent years, like the majority of councils Hartlepool has faced the difficult choice of either increasing Council tax to protect services, or make greater cuts to services.  The Council is not alone and within the North East, taking all Council services into account, our average Council tax is lower than Council areas such as Northumberland, Gateshead and Durham, and only slightly above the average for the 12 North East Councils. We are also lower than many other council areas in the country, including Liverpool, Walsall, Nottingham, Bristol, Rutland, Cornwall and Dorset to name a few.