North Lincolnshire Council and Humberside Police have been successful in making it to the finals of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Excellence Awards 2019.
The council’s Environmental Health and Housing team and Humberside Police have been shortlisted for the ‘Best Collaboration’ award along with four other finalists.
They made it to the finals due to a collaborative working approach that has been developed over a number of years.
Joint visits and support provided by the police when inspecting houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) enabled criminal landlords to be prosecuted. Shared intelligence was used to target properties where it was suspected that criminal landlords were taking advantage of and abusing vulnerable tenants.
The joint approach resulted in the closure of properties that were causing high levels of anti-social behaviour, some of which were poorly maintained, unlicensed HMOs.
The outcome of this partnership working is a safer and cleaner environment for residents in North Lincolnshire, along with an improved quality of private rental properties.
By working together, the council and Humberside Police can share evidence and intelligence making operations more streamlined and enabling the best outcomes to be achieved.
Winners will be revealed at the awards ceremony on Thursday 14 November 2019 in London.
Cllr John Davison, Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, said:
“Our council Environmental Health and Housing team are experts in their field and by working with officers from Humberside Police they have proved how working together even more can be achieved. This is a fantastic example of how working in partnership can benefit the community.
“Without the support from both organisations, these outcomes may not have been accomplished.
“Being shortlisted for a national award is a brilliant achievement. Good luck to you all.”
Humberside Police’s Local Neighbourhood Inspector Paul French, said:
“Together with North Lincolnshire Council, we have been working hard to disrupt the activities of criminals across the region, making sure that Scunthorpe remains a safe place to live, work and visit.
“I am delighted to see that our hard work has been recognised with a nomination for a national award.
“My team are passionate members of this community and are committed to continuing this action, just last week we secured a three month closure order at a problem address in Scunthorpe.
“We are not going anywhere and we will continue to take action against anyone committing offences or behaving inappropriately.”
Further details about the awards can be found on the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health website.
Entries for the Best Collaboration award showcased the breadth of work carried out by environmental health professionals and services. Judges measured the entries against the following criteria:
- Improvement to public health and wellbeing
- Reduction in health inequality
- Improvements to public protection
- Promotion of sustainability
The entries chosen to be on the shortlist represent the best examples seen by the judges of what can be achieved in the field of environmental health.
