Agenda item

Report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection regarding a review of Environmental Health-based regulatory services.

In response to a Member’s question, the Assistant Director of Environmental Health and Public Protection advised that the provision of a Pest Control Service would be disbanded to meet savings as it was a non-statutory function. He added that the statutory function of responding to notifications of pests and providing recommendations to building owners would remain but external Pest Control contractors would now have to carry out pest removal.

In response to a Member’s question regarding the handling of noise complaints, the Assistant Director advised that most other local authorities dealt with complaints via their Licensing Teams as decisions could be made in reference to the Licensing objectives. The Out of Hours service would remain and complaints would be passed to the appropriate Team.  A review would be undertaken to see whether an improved service could be provided by noise complaints associated with licensed premises being investigated and handled by the Licensing Team, rather than Pollution Control.

In response to a Member’s question regarding food safety and the donation by retail premises of surplus food to charities, the Assistant Director advised that officers could investigate whether certain foods were being kept at correct temperatures but powers did not exist to force commercial businesses to donate excess food to charity. The Assistant Director of Street Scene and Strategy added that the Clean City Award Scheme co-ordinated best practice regarding food waste, recycling, and sustainability.