Environmental Enforcement Officer

Anticipated Interview Date(s)

Week commencing 15th August 2022

About the Borough

This special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else - it is where the first kings of England were crowned.

Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston's riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer.

Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London – with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink.

Kingston’s people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other.

We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston’s key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand.

Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK.

About the Role

Based within our Environmental Enforcement team, this role is responsible for delivering a range of environmental and highways enforcement, together with related functions, across the Kingston and Sutton Shared Environment Service.

The role includes investigating and enforcing waste and duty of care offences under the Environmental Protection Act, identification and enforcement of abandoned vehicles, use of civil powers to tackle unlawful mooring on the river Thames and using a range of measures to resolve other complaints escalated to the team by other services.

About Us

Maintaining a healthy and safe environment is a key priority for both Councils. The Environmental Enforcement team works to make the Boroughs cleaner and safer by tackling environmental crime.

The team delivers a range of environmental and highway enforcement functions across both Boroughs. The work of the team is varied and the role involves managing a caseload, responding to urgent requests and taking part in targeted enforcement activities. You will be expected to keep detailed records as you investigate allegations and determine the most appropriate enforcement action to secure resolution to issues.

Regulatory Services offers surroundings in which you will be supported to achieve your professional goals and the role provides an opportunity to influence how services are delivered. With offices in both Kingston and Sutton town centres, and modern remote working technology, the service works agiley, with occasional evening and weekend work giving scope for a healthy work life balance.

About You

You will bring with you knowledge and experience of investigation and enforcement activities in Environmental and Highways enforcement within local government. Conversant with PACE and RIPA, you will be competent at investigating alleged offences, managing complex cases, gathering evidence, taking statements, preparing case files and attending court. This is not a role where you will be required to wear a uniform.

You will be adaptable and organised with an eye for detail and comfortable working under pressure. Accurate, flexible and with excellent communication skills you will be able to work on your own initiative and making decisions within your remit. On the job and supplementary training will be provided however you may have an appropriate professional qualification or experience in a related field.

Good ICT skills are essential, including database entry and record keeping. As you will be mainly working out of the office, a full driving licence and access to a car (or other transport) for work is essential. As a member of a small and busy team, you will be expected to support the wider Shared Environment Service where it is needed.

This is a challenging role providing an ideal opportunity for you to be part of an innovative front-line service.

Our Offer To You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. The COVID-19 pandemic has required us to be even more flexible in how we work and manage staff workloads, ensuring they have the correct equipment and resources to be able to maximise their talents and looking after their wellbeing.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
Three volunteering days per year
Flexible and agile working arrangements
Comprehensive learning and development programme
Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
Interest free season ticket loans
Local Government Pension Scheme
Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
Zip car scheme
Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
Subsidised gym membership

Application Process

Please apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Additional Information

We pride ourselves on being a diverse, tolerant and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.

We are proud to be recognised as a Disability Confident employer, and are committed to thinking differently about disability and taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are an accredited London Living Wage Employer and this means that everyone working at the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers receive the London Living Wage. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.

The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.

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