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1. SCOPE: What does ‘PUBLIC REALM’ mean?
Geographical definition: ‘PUBLIC REALM’ incorporates all areas to which the public has open access. The council takes a wide view on what might be included. For example; if a private area of land is spoiling the visual amenity of an area; the Council would consider this to be a ‘public realm issue’.
Services included: Public Realm work operations include; grass cutting, horticulture, street cleansing, public convenience maintenance, street lighting maintenance, and routine (reactive) highway maintenance.
2. AIMS: What are we trying to achieve?
We are trying to improve the way Denbighshire “looks and feels” to visitors and residents. Essentially we are trying to make people feel better about their surroundings.
We aim to do this by making Denbighshire a cleaner and tidier place, and by providing Public Realm amenities such a public open spaces, benches, flower displays and the like.
The importance of this service area was re-emphasised in the autumn of 2005, when Councillors identified public realm works as one of their top three priorities.
3. METHODS: How can we achieve our aims?
We will try to prioritise work in a logical manner, concentrating on ‘doing what needs doing’.
We will try to see things from the public’s point of view. This means Identifying and eliminating ‘hot spots’ (as far as practicable). ‘Hot spots’ are individual problem areas that have a disproportionately large effect on public perception.
We will publicise the aims and objectives of the service, so that everybody understands what they can reasonably expect, and what is possible for us to deliver with the resources that we have available.
We will try to influence the attitudes and behaviour of the public via a mixture of education and targeted enforcement.
We will try to develop effective service delivery teams. These teams will develop a sense of ownership of their areas, and will ‘take it personally’ if they are untidy.
4. PERFORMANCE: How will you know if we are doing a good job?
| Service Area | What can you expect from us? |
| Street Cleansing | To sweep the streets at the recommended frequencies. |
| Litter Enforcement | Targeted programmes in areas where there are problems. |
| Provision of dog waste bins | Provision in visitor areas only. There will be no provision in urban estates. |
| Enforcement against dog fouling | Targeted enforcement in problem areas. |
| Provision of Public Conveniences | Clean usable facilities, open at reasonable times. |
| Street lighting | Repair of defective street lamps within 5 working days – excluding cases where the Electricity Company is unable to provide a supply. |
| Provision of flower beds and other displays | Flower displays in town centres and areas with large numbers of visitors.
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| Visual Amenity grass cutting | Frequent cuts in urban areas to keep grass looking reasonably tidy. Keeping paths clear of grass cuttings (but not collecting the cuttings from grassed areas). |
| Highway safety grass cutting | Less frequent cuts on rural highways – this grass is only cut in order to provide road users with adequate visibility. |
5. ACTION PLAN:
What are we going to concentrate on next?
The service areas where we will concentrate our efforts are: Eliminating Geographical demarcations: this means tackling environmental problems on land outside the direct control of the council. Getting the balance right between being proactive and reactive: the public like us to respond quickly when problems are identified. However, if we concentrate exclusively on reactive works, we are likely to fail, because it is usually more cost effective to prevent ‘mess’ developing in the first place than to clear it up afterwards.
Enforcement: there will be a renewed emphasis on enforcement when all of the powers under the new Clean Neighbourhoods Act are in force (subject to Council approval).
You can help, by:
Taking your litter home. Taking your dog waste home. Reporting defective street lights Reporting fly-tippers and others who abuse their area. The contact number for dog fouling problems is 01824 706444. The contact number for reporting all other environmental problems is 01824 706101.