Regulatory Services in the Spotlight

The work of the council's regulatory services department over the last year will be highlighted at a committee meeting later this week.

The service encompasses environmental health, trading standards, licensing, commercial food and safety and the private housing sector.

Over the last 12 months, activity has included the prosecution of an unregistered tattoo artist; two Criminal Behaviour Orders secured against nuisance residents, 29 fines for fly tipping offences issued, and over 700 complaints about scams, illegal tobacco products and age-restricted sales, and more than 3,300 pest control complaints.

Teams have also run several campaigns, such as free electric blanket safety testing, which resulted in over a quarter of the blankets failing and being replaced. As part of national Operation CeCe, aimed at tackling illegal tobacco, 17kg of hand rolling tobacco and 52,000 cigarettes were seized from business premises and a 'tab house'.

Cllr Jim Foreman, Lead Member for Housing and Community Safety, said: "Regulatory services play an important role in ensuring public health and safety.

"They cover a very broad and diverse range of issues and activities ranging from animal health to consumer protection, to food safety.

"This report highlights some real successes over the last year."

The report will be presented at a meeting of licensing and regulatory committee this Friday.