Corporate Enforcement Policy consultation

Have your say on our revised Corporate Enforcement Policy which outlines how we administer and enforce a range of legislation across a variety of services which helps to protect our residents' health, safety and welfare, prevent crime, improve the environment and support the local economy.

Thank you to everyone who took part in this consultation. The majority of responses we received were from business and organisations impacted by this policy aimed at helping the council to enforce the law in a fair, equitable and consistent manner, assist compliant businesses to meet their legal obligations and take firm action against those who flout the law or act irresponsibly. The final version of the policy has now been approved by Cabinet. It will be reviewed every three years. To read the Policy and for further information about the document visit Corporate Enforcement Policy

Background

We carry out a wide range of regulatory roles to meet our many statutory duties to protect the public, consumers, workers, communities and the local environment. These are carried out through a combination of scheduled inspections, responding to complaints, issuing licences and offering advice.

Our work areas include:

food safety and standards
workplace health and safety
private sector housing
environmental protection
public health and nuisance
anti-social behaviour
animal health and welfare
licensing
trading standards
building control
planning
roads, verges and pavements

Our Corporate Enforcement Policy

Our Policy describes the broad approach that we take to enforcement and sets out the following:

levels of enforcement action available to us
how we will determine which action is appropriate in the event of non-compliance
how we will conduct our investigations

It may be supplemented by more detailed enforcement procedures dependent on the specific work involved.

Following good practice standards, we carry out our regulatory and enforcement role in an impartial, open, and consistent manner through activities including education, mediation, providing advice, carrying out inspections, monitoring, and by regulating the activities of individuals and businesses were this is necessary. Compliance is achieved through both informal and formal action and, if necessary, through the courts via prosecutions.

In all activities we carry out we will consider the effectiveness, benefits and cost of the action. In doing so, we aim to help businesses achieve compliance without unnecessary expense.

All our staff have full awareness of the Policy when making an enforcement decision. The Policy is continually monitored and reviews are carried out on completed cases to help us to continually reflect and improve the quality of our service.

What we are consulting on

We have updated our Policy to reflect national standards of good practice set out in the Government's Regulators' Code [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulators-code] and the range of enforcement options available to us.

We would like your feedback on the draft policy. We are particularly interested in hearing from those businesses and individuals who are most affected and who we work with regularly to protect and improve things across County Durham.

Draft Corporate Enforcement Policy (PDF, 307 KB)

Have your say

The closing date for comments was 5.00pm on Sunday 26 November 2023.

What happens next

We will look at all feedback received and where relevant update the draft Policy. We hope to present the Policy to our Cabinet in December for approval and once agreed it will be published on our website early next year. It is reviewed every three years or when there are significant changes in regulatory legislation.

Contact Community Protection

Email ehcp@durham.gov.uk
Telephone 03000 261 016