Wrexham Council to consider setting up an in-house enforcement services as Kingdom debate rumbles on

Wrexham Council have indicated publicly for the first time that they are looking at setting up an in-house enforcement service.

A business case appears to be in preparation for presentation before Councillors, possibly as early as next month, when a decision could be taken – with a protest against Kingdom planned for this weekend.

The end result could see a in-house Enforcement Services Team set up by Wrexham Council.

Kingdom Environmental Services have operated in Wrexham since April 2016, when Wrexham Council began a 12 month trial service in a bid to reduce littering and dog fouling.

Following the trial period, Kingdom were then re-appointed last April on a further two year deal. There is an option to extend the contract by a further year.

However Wrexham Council were the only local authority in Wales to still be contracted to the company after Kingdom announced it would be ending its work in Flintshire, Denbighshire and Conwy from mid-August.

At the end of July it was confirmed that discussions over setting up a regional enforcement service had taken place between Wrexham Council and other north Wales councils.

Speaking at the time Lead Member for Environment and Transport, Cllr David A Bithell, said: “We are aware of the very real concerns raised by elected members and the people of Wrexham and in response we have set up a Task and Finish group to recommend a way forward.

“The group has met and I would like to thank them for their time on this matter so far.”

“The group is made up of all political parties and we are awaiting their outcomes and findings and everyone should be assured we will consider their recommendations.”

Wrexham.com believes that has concluded, and the output is triggering a in-house response.

Any in-house provision would likely see Kingdom’s involvement in Wrexham terminated. When Wrexham.com inspected the contract we saw it had a 28 day written notice for any breach, or three months to terminate ‘without reason’.

Prior to Kingdom taking on the job, Wrexham Council did the enforcement job in house however only 43 fines were issued by the council in 2015-2016, the period before outsourcing.

In December 2016 we asked Cllr Bithell if Kingdom issuing more tickets in the first three days than Wrexham Council in a year meant the council had not been doing the best job when it was previously run inhouse, something he said was ‘absolutely right’.