Issue - meetings

Purpose of Report

To provide the Executive with an update on recent unauthorised encampments in the city, consider a proposal as to how to deal with these in the future and seek authority to delegate the signing of the revised Joint Protocol for dealing with unauthorised encampments in Lincolnshire to the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council.

Decision

That the proposal to apply for a city-wide Injunction Order and the delegation of authority for the changes to the Joint Protocol dealing with unauthorised encampments in Lincolnshire being signed off by the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council be approved.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

If the Council did not take action to resolve instances of unauthorised encampments, costs and resources would be taken up by each encampment which unlawfully arrived on City Council land. To not sign to revised Joint Protocol risked there being an ad-hoc reaction to unauthorised encampments countywide, meaning that the potential benefits of partnership working would not be maximised.

Reason for Decision

The City Council had experienced numerous unauthorised encampments since the Joint Protocol was originally approved in 2014. Each encampment took up substantial officer time and resources, often necessitating an application to the court and extensive interaction with third parties, with engagements often being protracted and confrontational. The Joint Protocol had therefore been a very useful document on which to base the response of the Council to any encampments and, in particular, had led to improved relationships between Lincolnshire County Council, the Police and the City Council. As a result this had improved the consistency of approach.

The proposed revised Joint Protocol being considered by the County Council included the following main changes:

·         to include a precedent Community Impact Assessment to be completed in the initial visit to capture information in a consistent manner and enable a full assessment of the impact to inform decisions about actions to be taken;

·         to include a standard report to be completed by a local authority to present to the Police, with relevant documents attached to cover all actions taken regarding the encampment and suggested justifications for the Police to exercise their discretionary powers to evict trespassers in an unauthorised encampment;

·         to include powers of the County Council in respect of taking action against encampments on the highway;

·         to firm up definitions, expanding on general requirements.

A review had been carried out on the available powers and other authority’s approaches to unauthorised encampments. In particular, the City Council had been linking with the Lincolnshire Shared Services legal team and their involvement in obtaining a citywide Injunction in Boston from the High Court. This had included various areas of land which had been targeted by unauthorised encampments and was granted in 2014. Since that time, whenever a group of travellers who met the requirements of the Order arrived the Police served upon them the Injunction Order. To date this had appeared to have had the desired effect with groups moving on relatively quickly and without the need for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71