Issue - meetings

The report of the Monitoring Officer is attached.

It was RESOLVED that the proposed amendments to the Corporate Enforcement Policy be endorsed.

The Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Environment and Safety, Councillor Inglis, presented the report of the Monitoring Officer outlining the review of the Council’s Corporate Enforcement Policy.

Councillor Inglis confirmed that the Policy had last been reviewed in October 2019, and had been pleased to see that it had been included in the Work Programme for the Communities Scrutiny Group for review, to ensure that it accurately reflected the approach taken to enforcement corporately, linked with the Council’s enforcement protocols and policies, and to abide with any new legislation, especially following on from the Council’s recent, positive staff restructuring to address enforcement more expediently and robustly.  Cabinet noted that the Policy was an umbrella policy, which applied to legislation enforced or administered by Council officers in five areas, details of which were highlighted in paragraph 4.1 of the report.

Councillor Inglis explained that the revised document incorporated an amendment, requested by the Communities Scrutiny Group in regard to proportionality and that the first stages would be prevention but would then follow the concept of the widely used four Es protocol: Engage; Explain; Educate; and Enforce.  It was noted; however, that any serious incident would be pitched at the appropriate level with consideration to the individual circumstances of that case.

Councillor Inglis concluded by advising that the Policy clearly set out the principles of enforcement and that the primary purpose was to protect the public and the environment, and the Policy also included an Equality Impact Assessment form, which had a clearly written protocol that could be easily understood and conformed to.

In seconding the recommendation, Councillor Edyvean reiterated the importance of reviewing and keeping policies updated, referred to the scourge of enviro-crime in modern living and to the inroads that the Council had made to improve, discourage, and clean up problem areas.  Whilst that formed only a small part of the review, Councillor Edyvean advised that it was important that the Council continued to deliver excellent services across all areas.

Councillor Brennan welcomed the report, referred to the importance of investing in resources and staff to ensure the rules and regulations were enforced, and referred to the positive feedback that she had received when the Council had acted swiftly to deal with littering and fly-tipping in particular.

Councillor Moore concurred with previous comments and stated that having a strong enforcement regime was invaluable and people were noticing that action was being taken.

Councillor Robinson referred to the challenges of keeping up with legislative changes, which was demanding for officers, often caused frustration to residents, and it was acknowledged that there were times when the Council would prefer to do more but was unable to do so.  

It was RESOLVED that the proposed amendments to the Corporate Enforcement Policy be endorsed.