Community & Environmental Protection Officer Ref: 22-24

Salary: Grade 8, £30,120 - £35,942 per annum (pay award pending) 
Hours: Full time 37 hours per week
Basis: 3-year fixed term contract
Place of Work: Elizabeth House, Dereham (remote-enabled)

Would you like a job where what you do:

• Helps ensure our communities are protected and feel safer?
• Makes a real difference to our local environment & places we live & work in?
• Provides variety and great job satisfaction

We are seeking an enthusiastic Community & Environmental Protection Officer who will make a real difference to our place, communities and local environment. The role will be rewarding, varied but challenging! We have a very good track record and you would be joining a high performing team.

You will:

• Provide specialist advice on community safety issues, keeping up to date with changes in legislation, regulations, policy and strategy developments.
• Work with the Senior Community & Environmental Protection Officer to report on and implement any legislative changes from central government in relation to community safety, ensuring the Council discharges its statutory duties with regard to the service.
• Contribute to partnership working with external agencies including the Operational Partnership Team and Collaboration Meetings. Engaging with internal teams within the Council and External Partners & Stakeholders.
• Ensure timely and effective co-ordination of community safety casework and protection of our communities. Enabling them to feel safe and protected.
• Respond to reported anti-social behaviour complaints, and to lead where appropriate in the facilitation of investigative work with partner agencies to support this.
• Provide day to day operational support, taking appropriate, proportionate and effective enforcement action.
• Where necessary, serve Community protection warning and community protection notices as well as the service of Fixed penalty Notices, including the enforcement of any Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO's), service of a wide range of notices and formal enforcement including preparation of evidence and the instigation of prosecutions and formal enforcement proceedings.
• Develop ways of ensuring that the Council meets required minimum standards in terms of addressing anti-social behaviour and other community safety issues, with a focus on early intervention.
• Develop the approach to wider community safety issues (such as PREVENT and Domestic Abuse) as required.
• Take Enforcement action relating to a wide range of Environmental and Public health legislation. Examples include prevention of damage by pests' community action warning letters and notices, statutory nuisance legislation, Graffiti, fly posting, environmental crime, contaminated land, private water supplies, sampling, air quality, ensuring that the local and wider Environment is not contaminated/polluted and is a nice and pleasant place to live, visit and work with no impacts on health or the local economy and community.
• Respond to service requests, but also undertake proactive action to prevent environmental crime, pollution & nuisance. Dealing with allocated work in relation to Contaminated land, private water supplies, water sampling, air quality/air pollution, prevention of damage by pests, permitting of prescribed processes and general public health and anti-social behaviour legislation (e.g noise, community warning letters and action notices). Implement appropriate interventions in accordance with Council policies to rectify non-compliance.
• Develop and maintain a good understanding of all functions undertaken by the service
• Work unsociable hours as necessary to maximise the effectiveness of service delivery.

About you:

Your personality & attitude are just as important to us as your professional experience. You are a strong team player. People like dealing with you, because you make things easy for them to understand,  you focus on and listen to what they say. You are empathetic and will do whatever you can to help, which allows you to quickly establish rapport and build strong relationships.

You exude confidence, remain calm and collected during difficult situations or confrontation, and can effectively de-escalate the situation. 

You will deal sensitively and confidentially with situations that may be challenging but require clear and logical decisions to be made. You keep going no matter how difficult things get, and use setbacks as a springboard for greater success.

You are passionate about providing the best possible service for our residents and take pride in successful outcomes.

• Collaborative - You look for ways to work in partnership and listen supportively to the ideas of others, building on their ideas, while sharing your views and knowledge
• Ambitious - You always ask yourself 'How could we do this better?', taking ownership of change and helping others to understand, adapt, implement, and embed it
• Results-driven - You make sure you are clear on what you need to achieve, keeping a focus on results and solutions; you are driven, showing courage and resilience even when things don't go to plan
• Empowered - You ask for help and support when needed, and take responsibility if things don't go well, learning from it for your own and for the organisation's development
• Supportive - You treat others as you would want to be treated yourself, ensuring you are welcoming, friendly and approachable

OK, I'm interested... But is it really the job for me?

As our Community & Environmental Protection Officer, you will have:

• Experience of working with members of the public, including in challenging and confrontational situations
• Experience of working in a similar role.
• Experience of meeting tight deadlines and targets in a fast-paced work environment
• Good organisational and highly effective communication skills