Environmental Health Practitioner/Housing Enforcement Officer

Environmental Health Practitioner/Housing Enforcement Officer

Location: Buckinghamshire County Wide

Overview

We are looking for experienced and talented officers to work in the Housing & Domestic team within the Council’s newly re-structured Environmental Health Service.

Applications are welcome from qualified and experienced professionals looking for a new and exciting challenge.

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a new unitary authority that was created last year bringing together the former County and District Councils.  This is an exciting time for the service as we transform and harmonise our work. 

Working within the newly formed Housing and Domestic Team, you will have the opportunity to undertake a range of challenging reactive enforcement and preventative interventions to support the public health agenda and make a real difference to the lives of the residents of Buckinghamshire. This busy team is working flexibly and remotely in a friendly and supportive environment, aligned to several bases over a large geographical area.

About the role

You will manage a busy and varied caseload covering aspects of private sector housing enforcement and licensing, public health and domestic nuisance.  Work will be a mix of reactive service requests along with undertaking interventions to support Health and Social Care partners through a preventative agenda.

The Environmental Health Practitioner/Housing Enforcement Officer will have detailed knowledge and understanding of the Housing Act 2004, and other legislation used to address poor housing conditions along with the ability to investigate and resolve statutory nuisance and public health-related complaints.  You must have excellent communication skills and have a positive approach to customer care.  

You will also be qualified in HHSRS and have good knowledge of different building construction methods, the deficiencies that can be present and the risks to health these may present.

Officers respond to service requests and undertake proactive projects to tackle criminal landlords, inadequate and dangerous private rented housing and unlicensed HMOs.

The team works closely with Health and Social care partners utilising preventative interventions to assist speedy hospital discharge and contribute to the Public Health agenda through innovative action and assistance such as the Healthy Homes on Prescription scheme.

About you

You will be educated to Diploma, BSc or MSc level in Environmental Health or equivalent, and have expert knowledge in relevant legislation, guidance, best practice and emerging issues within the scope of the Housing & Domestic area.

You will have a demonstrable track record of motivating staff, excellent communication skills, and the ability to oversee legal documents and case files produced by the team.

Other information

This role may require you to carry out site visits to support officers when necessary, but we actively encourage the team to adopt a flexible working approach to improve their work-life balance. This includes working from home and attending the office as and when required, such as face-to-face meetings.

Our main offices are based in Aylesbury, Amersham & High Wycombe.

For an informal chat about this role in more detail, please contact Amy Starsmore on 01494 421706 or amy.starsmore@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Our values

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

About the Business Unit

The Environmental Health service forms part of the Planning, Growth and Sustainability directorate.  The service encompasses all aspects of environmental health and is delivered across three teams; Strategic Environmental Protection, Housing and Domestic and Commercial.  The directorate delivers a range of services including trading standards, housing, planning, economic growth, regeneration, strategic infrastructure, transport and property.

Coming together as a single EH service, our purpose is to ensure a safe and healthy, living and working environment within Bucks, minimising the impact on the environment and ensuring compliance with the law. Our vision is to provide a trusted and approachable Environmental Health service for local communities, businesses and visitors, ensuring Bucks is a safe place to work, live and visit.

The Environmental Health service works to help ensure that Buckinghamshire is a safe and healthy place to live and work, minimising impacts on the environment & supporting businesses to ensure compliance with the law. Our vision is to provide a trusted & approachable service for local communities, businesses & visitors, ensuring Bucks is a safe place to work, live & visit. Recently, our teams have been critical in providing a flexible response to the pandemic. As well as this monitor food safety (including awarding hygiene ratings), supporting public health and acting against nuisance. From 2019 to 2020, the service responded to over 8,100 environmental health requests.

The council’s key priorities are:

• strengthening our communities
• improving our environment
• protecting the vulnerable
• increasing prosperity

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented new challenges to how the council works and each of our directorates has had to adapt to different ways of working. Maintaining essential services to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our communities during this pandemic has been a key area of work and ongoing recovery and improvement work is likely to continue beyond the next financial year.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto-enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. We also offer a salary sacrifice personal car lease scheme and the opportunity to gain membership to Costco. We have discounted gym memberships, Travel discounts with Arriva and Chiltern Railways and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/