Elected Member Briefing - Provision of Visitor Management Service

About this Briefing Note

Report by: Elaine Ritchie, Strategic Lead, Housing and Communities 

Date: 8th April 2025

Subject: Provision of Visitor Management Service

Briefing information

Background

This briefing is being issued in response to some inaccurate information that has been circulating about the future of our Visitor Management Service, and to update you on proposals for the future of the service.

In recent days there has been some posts on social media from community groups which said that the Council's Visitor Management Service will no longer provide support and advice for visitors and local communities due to a withdrawal of funding.

This information is inaccurate and seems to have arisen from a misunderstanding of the ongoing review of our Community Support & Enforcement services.

This review looks to consolidate and review our community support and enforcement roles within Housing & Communities Service by bringing together our Parking Services and Community Safety Team into one team reporting directly to one Team Leader, as a new Community Support and Enforcement Service. 

Despite the teams currently being managed separately they all have a significant role in meeting the Council's vision - a Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality. The review proposes to consolidate the teams into one single responsive team that would:

• Enable and ensure that all staff are fully trained to the same level therefore enabling them to respond to a variety of issues and concerns.
• Streamline the delivery of services and provide a more focused approach - freeing up officers to be more visible in communities.
• Be able to respond to multiple issues and concerns allowing them to be more proactive and responsive in communities - eyes and ears.
• Enable resources to be deployed much more flexibly and easily adapted to meet current need or issue.
• Allow the Council to address some of the current concerns with residents' perceptions and concerns - feeling unsafe, appearance of communities.
• Have a clear focus on the priority of Place and Locality due to officers being present, visible and engaged in local communities through a locality working approach.
• Enable the team to operate based on a locality working model and therefore enhance communication, strengthen partnership work and respond more effectively to complex cases. 
• Ensure appropriate resources and response to significant events - civil contingencies.
• Put communities and customer first before team and organisational structures or processes.
• Achieve improved performance through streamlining the delivery of services resulting in positive outcomes for communities.
• Enable financial efficiencies and team security to be achieved from reducing some reliance on the general fund.

The review is ongoing, with discussions being held with affected staff about how it will impact their roles.

Visitor Management

The Visitor Management Service is within the scope of this review, and we can reassure you that under the proposed reorganisation its current activities will continue.

The changes mean we would no longer have to rely on a few seasonal staff but would instead have a team of fully trained Community Support & Enforcement Officers. These officers will be front-line staff, working closely with our communities and partners. An important part of their duties will be to continue rural patrols and engage with communities, visitors and campers by providing advice and assistance.

We will have the intelligence to target hot spot areas and sufficient resources to address any issues, working in partnership with Police Scotland and the SFRS.

We are also looking at options to continue the provision of portable toilets at hotspots.

Elected Members should be assured that under the future plans our staff will continue to work with visitors and communities to manage the impact of visitors and provide advice and support to people who visit our area.

We are also contacting community groups to reassure them that this important service will continue.