A DROP in response rates to noise complaints and fly tipping is due to increasing demand on a council’s public protection service, councillors have been told.
Responses and closure rates for fly tipping, littering and dog fouling deteriorated even though there was an overall reduction in the number of incidents reported to Monmouthshire County Council in 2024/25.
The number of complaints dropped from 619 in 2023/24 to 542 but the number dealt with within three working days dropped from 525, or 84.8 per cent, to just 383, or 70.7 per cent, last year.
The number of cases closed within three months also fell from 440, 71.1 per cent, to 316 which was only 58.3 per cent.
Principal environmental health officer Huw Owen blamed “time constraints and ever increasing demands on the service and requests” when the annual public protection report was presented to the overview and scrutiny committee.
He said the department, which includes environmental health, trading standards and licensing, deals with around 2,500 service requests a year which he said was “about a 34 per cent increase since 2019.”
Figures show the council received 370 noise complaints during 2024/25 and responded to 237 within three working days which was 64.1 per cent and that was below 74 per cent responded to within the same time period the previous year when the council dealt with 385 complaints.
Fewer cases were also closed within months in 2024/25 with just 47.6 per cent done so compared to 219, or 56.9 per cent, the previous year.
Other statutory nuisances, excluding noise complaints, also suffered from reduced performance despite a slight increase in the number of reports from 153 in 2023/24 to 158 last year.
Of those 111, or 70 per cent, were responded to within three working days, down from 79.7 per cent the previous year, and 89, or 56.3 per cent, closed within three months which was also down on the 60.8 per cent the previous year.
Public protection has an annual budget of £1.9 million and reported a £185,647 underspend in 2024/25 largely due to a decision not to fill the head of service post following the retirement of David Jones in September 2024, delays in appointing to vacant posts and it having generated more income than projected.
In addition to the underspend the service also transferred £92,279 generated in previous years through the Proceeds of Crime Act to the council’s main account to support its overall financial position.
Jane Rogers, strategic director for social services who now has responsibility for public protection, said the decision not to fill the head of service post is being monitored and will be considered as part of a wider review of the authority’s senior leadership team.
