Agenda item

To consider approving a new Corporate Enforcement Policy.

Purpose of report

To consider a new policy.

Decision

That Cabinet:

1.    Approve and adopt the Corporate Enforcement Policy.

2.    Agree that future minor amendments such as typographical corrections to the Corporate Enforcement Policy are delegated to the Head of Service – Public Protection, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Corporate Governance and Licensing.

Other options considered

To take no action. In this situation the 2017 Corporate Enforcement Policy would remain without review.

To update the Corporate Enforcement Policy separately to the following policies and not include them within the corporate enforcement policy within the appendices:

-       Enviro Crime Enforcement Policy (adopted April 2018)

-       Environmental Services Enforcement Policy (dated February 2017)

-       Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy (dated November 2018)

These options were discounted.

Reasons for the decision

The Council’s Corporate Enforcement Policy was last revised in February 2017, and a review and update was necessary. This new overarching policy was a full revision of the 2017 policy and covered the enforcement activities across all the Council’s Regulatory Services. This policy also incorporated and updated three other enforcement policies to support ease of reference and consistent application. The new policy also provided an option for other enforcement policies to be added to the overarching policy.

These services covered by this policy included:

• Public Protection (this includes Environmental Health, Environmental Protection
• Private Sector Housing, Community Safety (Neighbourhoods) and Licensing)
• Development Management
• Building Control
• Finance
• Tenancy Services.

The Policy would ensure that the Council achieved and maintained consistency in its approach to enforcement and was only targeted at cases where action was needed.

This policy also incorporated and updated three other enforcement policies to support ease of reference and consistent application. The new policy also provided an option for other enforcement policies to be added to the over-arching policy as an appendix.

The CEP had been considered by the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee in September 2025, Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Rural and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee in October 2025. Feedback given has been considered and where it was requested to be, has been included. Senior managers have also been consulted and their feedback is included.

Within Appendix A of the report a fixed penalty matrix was included; this had been agreed with the Environmental Crime Partnership and Legal Services Lincolnshire (LSL). SKDC would be trialling this matrix on behalf of the rest of Lincolnshire, and there would be feedback through the Partnership and also wider partners.

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 had introduced enhanced powers with private sector housing. It was anticipated that enforcement related policies that local authorities would adopt would be published during 2026.

The following information was highlighted during debate:

• The amount of consultation and training relating to this Policy had been comprehensive.
• The overarching policy covered a lot of legislation; the main area of the Council covered was Public Protection. There was a Senior Managers’ Forum held at SKDC which included Heads of Service, Service Managers and Team Managers, where issues can be raised. This topic would be part of future agendas.
• SKDC had a very good and structured method to applying the law in a fair and proportionate way. Moves to prosecutions must been approved by the Head of Service, then the Assistant Director, and finally the Chief Executive.