Decision details

The confidential report of the Director (Policy and Governance) was presented by the Executive Member (Public Protection) that proposed the creation of a new enforcement team aimed at strengthening and improving the Councils approach to enforcement by bringing different teams together into one team within the Customer and Digital directorate.

Decision:

1.    Approval of the proposed structure for formal consultation.

2.    Approval of the request for Early Retirement Voluntary Severance application.

3.    Delegated authority granted to the Executive Member (Public Protection) to approval the final structure following its consultation, subject to there being no significant changes to what is proposed within the report.

Reason for recommendation(s):

To strengthen the Council’s enforcement service and demonstrate the Council’s commitment to delivering a professional, firm and fair service to  act as a catalyst for further change.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

A number of alternative options and variations to the proposed structure were considered that included:

a)    Making no changes to the current structure, and instead making changes and improvements to processes and systems to drive change. This was rejected as it would still leave both building control and planning enforcement with temporary reporting arrangements and it is considered that creating a new team  will act as a catalyst for process and system changes which may drive forward change and improvements quicker and more consistently: and

b)    Consideration was given to whether the service should fit within the Policy and Governance directorate and specifically form part of the Council’s legal team due to the close working of some of the teams with Legal such as Licensing. However as the proposal developed and the remit of the proposed team expanded this option was also rejected.