The work of York's street environment officers

City of York Council street environment officers Iain Dunn and Michelle Watling stand quietly at the edge of the field. Before long, a few older travellers approach to find out what they want.

Within minutes, the pair are virtually surrounded.

There is nothing hostile about the travellers’ behaviour. Many of those gathered around are children, curious to see who these strangers are. But there are also several adults, some of them none too pleased at what they see as harassment. Their sheer number is intimidating.

Iain and Michelle remain calm, allowing the travellers to have their say, explaining that they are only here to assess the situation.

The talk turns to the waste carriers’ licences needed to transport any kind of rubbish or building rubble – and the waste transfer notes that are also needed to prevent fly-tipping. One elderly traveller starts to get heated, and Michelle and Iain decide it is time to back off.

Later, the travellers says they are tired of being harassed. “We’ll be gone by the start of next week,” one man, who did not want to be named, said. “Sunday or Monday this field will be empty.”

A woman, who also didn’t want to be named, grumbled that travellers regularly suffered harassment “for no good reason at all”. Travelling was just part of their way of life, she said. “It’s our culture.”

Back at their base at the city council’s eco depot, off James Street, Iain and Michelle explain that their visit is not about harassment. “But we must respond to issues when raised by residents,” Iain says.

Dealing with travellers is one of the trickier parts of their job. There were several reasons for this morning’s visit. The fact that the travellers are in York, even if only temporarily, means the council has an obligation to make sure they are all right, says Michelle. That can, during term-time, include offering the children schooling. The travellers may also have health or other needs.

Then there is the question of illegal camping. Just ignoring the travellers and hoping they will leave soon isn’t an option, Iain says. Local residents, who like to walk their dogs nearby, are unhappy, and there have been a number of complaints. “We try to be helpful, but at the end of the day they are not allowed to stay there.”

If the travellers had been on council land, Iain says, he and Michelle could have started eviction proceedings. The travellers would be given an eviction notice, and if they still hadn’t moved within say 78 hours, could be summonsed to court for an eviction order. It seldom gets that far.

“Usually they leave the night before they are due in court,” Michelle says.

In this case, however, the travellers were on private land. So there is little the council can do, other than advise the landowners if they ask for help.

It has been an interesting start to the day. But dealing with travellers is only one part of Iain and Michelle’s job. As street environment officers, they are responsible for everything from reducing litter, to tackling fly-posting and even sorting out backed-up sewage drains.

“It’s all about making York a more pleasant place to live,” Iain says.

It is all a far cry from what the married 40-year-old, who was born and bred in York, used to do for a living.

Back in the 1990s he was an attacking winger who played two seasons for York City before moving to Huddersfield Town, where his exploits earned him cult status.

His five years with that club, from 1992-1997, included two when the team played in the old First Division – now the Championship. In 243 appearances, he scored 33 goals – and became the first British footballer ever to score a golden goal, in the Auto Windscreens Shield in 1994.

Huddersfield fans took him to their hearts – and even gave him his own terrace chant: “Iain Dunn, Iain Dunn, Iain, Iain Dunn. He’s got no hair but we don’t care. Iain, Iain Dunn.”

Michelle was also brought up in York, and also turned to the council after a career change. The married mum of a teenage son and two step-children in their 20s started off her working life in the motor business. Then she saw a job as a city council dog warden advertised.

“It was less money, but I wanted to give it a go.”

Now the pair are part of an eight-strong street environment team. It is a job Iain once described as “not glamorous, but… very, very important”.

And so it is. After visiting the travellers’ camp, Iain and Michelle jump into their council van and head for the outer ring road at Clifton Moor. At this time of year, fly-posting – the placing of illegal, unsightly and potentially distracting advertising boards at the side of the road – is a real problem, Iain says.

“I went around the bypass last week and collected about 15, a whole van-full. If everybody did this, the streets would be a mess.”

Usually, a stern word is enough. “But ultimately, people can be prosecuted for illegal fly-posting.”

Today there is only board – an advert for a hand car-wash service in the Tesco car park, stuck into the ground at the edge of the A1237. Iain and Michelle are surprised to see the Tesco logo on the sign, though – and decide to tackle the store manager about it.

That involves a trip into the store, and a call being put out over the Tannoy. Michelle and Iain have a quiet chat with the manager.

He cannot comment to the Press, but a call to the Tesco press office later confirms what Michelle and Iain suspected all along: Tesco had nothing to do with the advertising board.

“We did not authorise the use of our logo on the posters,” a spokesman said.

The culprits are the people running the car wash, which is in the Tesco car park but nothing to do with Tesco. Iain and Michelle approach the man in charge. He looks contrite.

“I didn’t know,” he says. “I was told as long as it wasn’t on the roundabout it was okay.”

Job done, Michelle and Iain take a quick spin around the Clifton Moor industrial estate, to check for A-boards illegally placed on the pavement. Then it is back into the town centre for an altogether more fun job.

One of the their roles involves visiting schools to talk about litter and to get children involved in litter-busting campaigns.

On one such visit to Carr Junior School, Michelle encouraged children to draw posters warning about the dangers of dog dirt – and why dog owners should clean up after their pets.

The best six posters were selected for printing, so that they could be hung up around the school. It is these posters that Michelle has come to collect from the print unit at the council’s Guildhall headquarters. They’re colourful affairs, with slogans that get right to the point.

“If you don’t pick up dog poo, you get a fine!” says one. “No Dog Poo!” warns another. Michelle stores them in the van, ready to be taken to the school later.

The final trip of the morning is to Murrough Wilson Place, a small cul-de-sac off Wigginton Road, not far from the hospital.

There was a patch of land at the edge of the street there that nobody seemed to know who owned. Inevitably, it was used as an unofficial car park – and looked a complete mess.

Iain and Michelle persuaded the council to adopt the land, and to put some York Pride money towards fencing it off with wooden posts, and planting grass and trees.

Now it has been transformed, and they have come back to check on how it is doing.

Local resident Patricia Scarth is leaning on her garden fence when they approach.

“It’s a lot better now,” she says with a smile. “Before it was all cars, just a mess. It’s much better now. It is like a little park.”

A job well done, it seems.

• By Wednesday of this week, all but a couple of the travellers’ vans camped illegally off Shipton Road had moved on, as they had promised.

City of York Council employs six street environment officers such as Michelle and Iain, and two environment enforcement officers, all based at the eco depot off James Street.

The job of street environment officers like Michelle and Iain includes:

• Liaising with travellers, and if necessary taking action to move them on.

• Tackling street litter-dropping, graffiti and dog dirt.

• Running street litter, graffiti and dog dirt campaigns.

• Preventing fly-posting.

• Dealing with blocked drains, including sewage leaks.

• Dealing with rat and other pest infestations.

• Inspecting restaurants, takeaways and other. businesses to make sure they dispose of waste properly.

• Liaising with local ward councillors about keeping their local streets clean.