Poor enforcement and inadequately resourced enforcement
are now emerging as key issues in many of the areas concerning residents.
Without
an effective enforcement regime in place all other regulations and regulatory
actions become meaningless. For instance:
All licensed premises should be made to
adhere strictly to their licence conditions. However licensing officers only
inspect premises relatively infrequently and often not during the hours where
breaches are most likely.
All licensed premises should comply
with planning conditions but decisions of the planning authority are too often
flouted for considerable time before effective enforcement action is taken.
Excessive noise from music, observable
both on the street and in the nearest premises is routine in the City centre in
the early hours of the morning. However, Environmental Protection Officers are
not available at all at night when most noise nuisance happens. Environmental
protection is not proactive in enforcement only acting on reported nuisance.
Other enforcement agencies, such as the police, on the whole ignore noise as an
issue
The Council’s Air Quality Management
plan calls for improvements to the enforcement of the Traffic Regulation Orders
designed to reduce pollution from heavy goods vehicles and with rising levels
of pollution damaging both human health and the historic fabric of the city
implementing these improvements is long overdue.
Too often regulations are made with
little or no planning of how they will be enforced - A Boards and 20 mph zone
spring to mind. This does nothing for the credibility of the regulators or the
regulations and leaves residents feeling short change and abandoned.