Issue - meetings

The Committee considered and noted the report of the Chair of the Scrutiny Inquiry Panel ‘Reducing Drug Related Litter in Southampton’. 

The following recommendations of the Scrutiny Inquiry Panel were approved for inclusion in the final report:

(i)  Displacement of drug litter – To undertake analysis of drug litter finds since the night time closure of Grosvenor Square Car Park to better understand the link between car park closure and the location of drug litter finds in the city. This information should then be used to help inform future decisions relating to the night time closure of additional city centre multi-storey car parks;

(ii)  Make it clearer how to report drug related litter - To encourage public reporting, review the location and content of information on the Council’s website that explains how to report drug litter and what to do if you find drug litter. This information should be made available to community groups who organise and undertake litter picks;

(iii)  Extend opening hours of the Southampton Needle Exchange – To make it easier to dispose of injecting equipment, when recommissioning needle exchange services extend the opening hours of the Southampton Needle Exchange, to include weekend opening, and provide needle exchange services from the Cranbury Avenue Day Centre;

(iv)  Signpost out of hours services – To raise awareness, include the location and opening hours of the out of hours needle exchange services on the Council’s website, on appropriate needle exchange forums, and request that the information was signposted on the outside of the Southampton Needle Exchange;

(v)  Public sharps bins – Following informed consideration of potential sites and designs, to pilot the locations for discrete public sharps bins where drug litter was a persistent problem.  Information relating to the effectiveness of the sharps bins should be analysed and the whereabouts of the public sharps bins should be communicated to people who inject drugs through the needle exchange services;

(vi)  Drug consumption rooms – To undertake a robust evaluation that would fully assess the potential benefits a medically-supervised pilot drug consumption room could bring to Southampton. The evaluation should include consideration of the potential impact on drug related litter, health and criminal justice outcomes, public finances and whether a facility would add value to current services. The provision of Heroin Assisted Treatment from a drug consumption room should also be factored into the analysis, as well as the safety and security of staff;

(vii)  Drug consumption rooms – Working in partnership with local authorities, representative bodies, providers and other organisations that support the position, to lobby the Government for a change in legislation relating to drug consumption rooms, enabling local commissioners of drug treatment services to commission the establishment of such facilities if local need was evidenced.