New role to bring council services out to the community agreed
A new role to bring council services out to the city’s communities seven days a week is proposed to begin this summer.
The introduction of the Field Officer role was agreed at the Neighbourhoods, Inclusion, Communities and Equalities committee on 22 January 2018.
The role is being developed to work closely with communities and partners, and act as troubleshooters to deliver co-ordinated, fast and effective enforcement and inspection work across a number of council services.
Field Officers will be able to help residents with community issues across a number of services, including environmental health, housing, planning enforcement, community safety, seafront services and parks. Mobile technology will allow them to report issues back to services while out and about.
The main purpose of the role will be to:
- provide timely and effective responsive enforcement action to resolve problems and reduce unnecessary demand on partners and services
- gather intelligence and evidence to allow services to help deliver faster, more effective and more co-ordinated enforcement action to resolve environmental and community problems
- promote behaviour change and community collaboration
The proposal is for the team to work between 12 noon and 8pm, seven days a week. Once up and running, the role will be regularly reviewed to make sure it’s meeting community and service needs, resource, and seasonal demands.
The role is part of the Communities & Neighbourhood programme looking to improve the way council services work with communities and make the most effective use of resources.
Councillor Emma Daniel, chair of the Neighbourhoods, Inclusion, Communities and Equalities committee, said:
“Getting council services out into neighbourhoods through the Field Officers is a key part of our work to put communities at the heart of service delivery. The aim of the role is to give residents a more straightforward way to report concerns in their areas and to join up work across our services and our partners to resolve issues as quickly and simply as possible.”
The full report is available in the 22 January 2018 Neighbourhoods, Inclusion, Communities and Equalities committee papers (agenda item 56).