Agenda item

Report of the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment

Recommendations:-

1.      That the outcomes of the consultation on the proposed House to House Collections Policy be noted.

2.      That the revised House to House Collection Policy be adopted and approved.

Consideration was given to the report which detailed the findings of a public consultation carried out to seek views on key elements of a proposed House to House Collections Policy. In particular, the Council was keen to understand what levels of returns to charities the public expected when making donations, and in addition, the times at which collections might be considered to be reasonable.

The proposed House to House Collections Policy, therefore, reflected the findings of the consultation and was presented with this report for consideration for adoption.  The majority of responses agreed with the Policy and in particular the principle , but a number of responses referred to the number of plastic bags posted through doors and organisations would be encouraged to recycle.

Comments were also taken on board about the timings for collections and this was proposed to be reduced by one hour to 7.00 p.m., but this would be reviewed after one year.

This report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as part of the pre-scrutiny process who were in support of the recommendations, subject to consideration being given to amending the Policy to restrict collection times during Greenwich Mean time to 1600 hours, whilst retaining the limit of 1900 hours during British Summer Time, and to encourage the use of recyclable collections bags, where practicable, through the House to House Collections Policy.

The Cabinet was unable to accept the recommendation relating to timings as it was believed 7.00 p.m. was a reasonable time to make sure that charities could adjust their collections to ensure they were not adversely affected and ensure that charities were still able to raise funds.

The Cabinet was able to mandate the recommendation about recyclable collections bags and would encourage from within the Policy about recycling opportunities.

Councillor Short also sought clarification in the Policy and whether or not charitable organisations such as the Lions and Rotary Club would still be able to collect at specific times around holiday times, such as Christmas.

Cabinet and Councillor Short were assured that there would need to be a compromise and that the Policy facilitated applications being considered on a case by case basis by the Licensing Board, who would certainly not want to stop the good work, particularly around Christmas time.

The Chair of the Licensing Board reiterated that each individual application would be considered and representations were welcomed.  Local connections were important and the review of the Policy was triggered by the concern about collections, mostly of clothing, that came before the Licensing Board where there was not a high enough percentage of money being collected and given to the charity.  This was welcomed by Cabinet.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the outcomes of the consultation on the proposed House to House Collections Policy be noted.

(2)  That the revised House to House Collection Policy be adopted and approved.