Ian Murrell, Service Manager - EH, TS and Licensing, introduced the report. He explained that Cabinet’s response in relation to the Commission’s request “to explore options for a 24/7 noise service as soon as possible”, having received a report on options at its meeting on 18 February, was to defer a decision on this until it had further information on how the service worked with MASCOT and to await the outcome of discussions with neighbouring authorities on setting up a shared regulatory service that would include noise nuisance.

Ian Murrell said that Merton, Croydon and Richmond had made a formal commitment to a shared service and that Merton would be the lead borough. Other south-west London boroughs may join at a later stage. He added that Richmond’s Out of Hours service is very similar to Merton’s and the Croydon service has a narrower band of out of hours service but there are also dedicated officers who work a night shift.

Commission members noted that Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest periods for the service, averaging 10-12 calls per night when the out of hours service is operating compared to 3 on other nights. They commented that it would be helpful to have further information setting out how calls are spread across days of the week and for each month so that an assessment could be made of the cost effectiveness of a 24/7 service.

In response to questions on noise nuisance generally, Ian Murrell said that several callers about one incident and callers who are experiencing persistent noise nuisance (as opposed to a one-off) are prioritised as regards the deployment of monitoring equipment and other measures as appropriate. However all complaints about noise nuisance are investigated.

The Commission requested data on the number and type of legal action taken in 2013/14 so far, in a similar format to the2012/13 data in the table in paragraph 2.11.

ACTION: Ian Murrell, Service Manager - EH, TS and Licensing

In response to a question about the costs set out in paragraph 6.2 of the report, Ian Murrell said that it would cost an additional £200k for a 24/7 service, a model similar to Croydon’s would cost an additional £100k and extending the current service to all Friday nights(11pm-4am)  year-round would cost an additional £20k. In response to a question about whether the Croydon service had spare capacity that could be used by Merton as a temporary measure, Ian Murrell said that this would be unlikely. Ian Murrell also indicated the shared service had a 25% savings target.

The Chair invited Councillor Suzanne Evans to address the Commission because she had been involved previously in bringing the issue to the Commission’s attention. Councillor Evans said that the issue had first been raised by the Commission in February 2012 and asked the Commission to make a reference to Cabinet to register its dismay at the lack of action on an issue which has commanded cross-party support at Commission meetings.

Commission members discussed how they wished to respond to Cabinet and RESOLVED that the Commission make a reference to Cabinet stating that it:

·         is not minded to accept the Cabinet’s deferment without comment

·         welcomes the establishment of a shared regulatory service, including Merton’s role as lead borough

·         regrets that so much time has elapsed since the Commission first received a report on this issue in February 2012

·         recommends that Cabinet request further analysis of the pattern of calls by hour of day and day of week for 2012/13 and 2013/14

·         would wish to be confident that the proposed shared service will provide an improved service in terms of coverage

·         recommends that Cabinet spend £20,000 to enhance the current service. It was suggested that a pilot with increased out of hours coverage would demonstrate whether there is actual demand for such a service. Cabinet is asked to note that some members of the Commission pressed for a 24/7 service to be commenced as soon as possible.