Issue - items at meetings - Pest Control Fees and Charges

Report of Councillor C Cupit, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services.

RESOLVED

(1) That pest control fees and charges be increased to the ‘mid-position’ as set out in the report, obtained through the benchmarking exercise of the fees and charges of other local authorities,

(2) That a new, non-refundable call out charge of £25 be introduced for pest control visits.

(3) That these changes be implemented from 1 April 2022.

(4) That the Joint Assistant Director – Environmental Health be authorised to carry out a review on the impact of the changes to fees and charges twelve months after their implementation.

REASONS FOR DECISION - To reduce the costs of the service to the Council by bringing its fees and charges more into line with those of other local authorities in the region. To help reduce the incidence of aborted visits through the introduction of a call-out charge.

OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED - The options of not increasing fees and charges, or increasing them by a greater amount than recommended, were considered and rejected for the reasons specified in the report.

Please note that this was not a Key Decision and so can be implemented with immediate effect by officers.

Members were informed that a ‘benchmarking’ exercise had taken place to compare the Council’s fees and charges for Pest Control Services with those made by other Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire local authorities. Cabinet heard that these were lower than the average for the other authorities. Cabinet was asked to agree that the Council’s pest control fees and charges be increased, in order to bring them to the mid-point position between the highest and lowest fees and charges set by the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire local authorities.

The report to Cabinet also proposed that a new, non-refundable, standard call-out charge of £25, be introduced for pest control visits. Members heard that some local authorities already made this charge and that it would help to reduce the number of wasted call-outs, were there no subsequent treatments.

Cabinet discussed the report. Members emphasised the important role which the Environmental Health Service plays in controlling pests. They asked for the increase in fees and charges be reviewed after 12 months, in order to determine what impact the changes have had on the take-up of pest control services.