Borough Council Wants Your Views on Its Enforcement Policy

Published on: 23 Apr, 2022
Updated on: 26 Apr, 2022

Guildford Borough Council is asking residents and businesses to give their views on new proposals for its use of powers to investigate, regulate and enforce.

The council is updating its Corporate Enforcement Policy “to make sure that Guildford continues to be a safe, clean, and green place for people to live and work happily and healthily now and in the future”.

A three-week long consultation on draft updates to our Enforcement Policy began on April 19 and ends May 10.

James Steel, lead councillor for Environment, said: “While a lot of the regulatory and statutory frameworks and standards are set by national regulators, such as the Environment Agency and Food Standards Agency, we have the task of enforcing them.

Cllr James Steel

“Our approach to enforcement is to be targeted and effective in our regulation. We promote fairness, protection from harm and protecting the amenity of the area. In all we do we seek to be transparent, accountable, proportionate and consistent. We support individuals and businesses to comply with relevant legislation.

“We want to hear from local people and businesses on what they think of our proposed updates.”

The Corporate Enforcement Policy was last updated in 2018. The main update is on the council’s enforcement approach to Public Space Protection Orders.

According to a council spokesperson: “The policy reinforces our commitment to a proportionate and risk-based approach to enforcement, and it explains the factors taken into consideration before taking regulatory action, such as serving notices, issuing fines, and prosecutions.

“The updated policy also sets out how we will promote best practice and works in partnership with other regulators.”

You can read the full policy and complete the feedback form on our website: Enforcement Policy consultation.