Communities, Housing and Environment Committee			20 September 2016
Is the final decision on the recommendations in this report to be made at this meeting?				Yes

Environmental Health Service Update 2015/16

Final Decision-Maker	Communities, Housing & Environment Committee
Lead Head of Service	John Littlemore, Head �of Housing and Community Services
Lead Officer and Report Author	Tracey Beattie, Mid Kent Environmental Health Manager
Classification	Public
Wards affected	All

This report makes the following recommendations to this Committee:
That the committee note the service delivery made by Mid Kent Environmental Health in Maidstone Borough during 2015/16.

This report relates to the following corporate priorities:
� Keeping Maidstone Borough an attractive place for all - by ensuring noise, contaminated land and air quality issues are addressed through development control consultations.� That the pollution prevention and control scheme is implemented and that private water supplies are monitored and assessed. � Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough - by ensuring that public health is protected through food safety, health & safety interventions in line with statutory guidance to ensure that businesses are dealt with transparency and consistently.� That infectious disease controls are implemented in line with Public Health England guidance.

Timetable
*Meeting*		*Date*
Communities, Housing and Environment Committee		20 September 2016

Environmental Health Service Update Report 2015/16

1. PURPOSE OF REPORT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1 The environmental health functions for Maidstone Borough Council have been delivered through the Mid Kent Environmental Health Service since June 2014.

1.2 The functions delivered with Mid Kent Environmental Health include; Food Safety, Health & Safety, Infectious Disease control, Contaminated Land, Pollution Prevention Control, Private Water Supplies Air Quality and responding to consultations on planning applications.

2. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

2.1 The Mid Kent Environmental Health Service deal with a range of environmental health matters to protect public health and ensure that the statutory functions within Maidstone Borough are delivered to a high professional standard.

2.2 As part of the Mid Kent Environmental Health we have a wide range of expertise and professional backgrounds working in the Service.� Officers within the Food & Safety team have to meet specified levels of competencies to carry out food safety law inspections or health and safety competencies to inspect and protect employees in the workplace.� Within Environmental Protection, officers have specialisms across contaminated land, air quality and acoustics and ensure that appropriate permits are issued and appropriate conditions are made on planning application.

2.3 Appendix I summarises the work delivered within Environmental Health for Maidstone.� It provides an overview of the food hygiene work carried out, the number of complaints made to the service and planning applications consulted on and environmental permits issued.

2.4 You may recall that the Food & Safety service is delivered from Sittingbourne and the Environmental Protection functions from Tunbridge Wells.� Although officers from both teams work from home and from Maidstone House for meetings with other service areas as needed.

3. PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1 An annual report to the Communities, Housing and Environment Committee is considered an important means of communicating the work being delivered for Maidstone Borough Council by the Mid Kent Environmental Health Service.� It provides an overview of the range of work produced and the issues being addressed by officers.

4. CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

4.1 Previous Communities, Housing and Environment Committee meetings have received verbal updates of the work of the Mid Kent Service.� No consultation is proposed for this report.

5. CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

Issue	Implications	Sign-off
Impact on Corporate Priorities	Keeping Maidstone Borough an attractive place for all - by ensuring noise, contaminated land and air quality issues are addressed through development control consultations.� That the pollution prevention and control scheme is implemented and that private water supplies are monitored and assessed. Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough - by ensuring that public health is protected through food safety, health & safety interventions in line with statutory guidance to ensure that businesses are dealt with transparency and consistently.� That infectious disease controls are implemented in line with Public Health England guidance.	Mid Kent Environmental Health Manager
Risk Management
Financial	None	Mid Kent Environmental Health Manager
Staffing	None identified	Mid Kent Environmental Health Manager
Legal	None identified	Team Leader Corporate Governance
Equality Impact Needs Assessment	No equalities issues identified	Policy & Information Manager
Environmental/Sustainable Development	None identified	Mid Kent Environmental Health Manager
Community Safety	None identified	Mid Kent Environmental Health Manager
Human Rights Act	None identified	Mid Kent Environmental Health Manager
Procurement	None identified	Mid Kent Environmental Health Manager
Asset Management	None identified	Mid Kent Environmental Health Manager

6. REPORT APPENDICES

The following documents are to be published with this report and form part of the report:

� Appendix I: Summary of work activities for Environmental Health April 2015 � March 2016

7. BACKGROUND PAPERS .

2015 Updating and Screening Report on Air Quality for Maidstone www.kentair.org.uk