By Matt Jarram, Local Democracy Reporter
Nottingham City Council will be restructuring its community protection services after reducing its workforce by 24 employees.
The Community Protection department of the authority is responsible for more than 170 statutory duties including crime and disorder, environmental protection such as fly-tipping, noise, food hygiene and housing, which includes the unfair treatment of tenants.
One of the team’s most recent operations was in the Lenton Triangle and Arboretum areas of the city, which has a large number of students living in the residential areas.
Issues such as fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour were addressed.
In 2020, the number of frontline community protection officers (CPOs) was reduced by the council from 100 full time posts to 76.
The council says this now equates to two officers in each of the 20 city wards per day, not taking into consideration sickness or annual leave.
Due to the reduced number of officers, the council says that “a transformational programme is under way to move to an online reporting system.”
The technology being developed will allow officers to track ward level data and hotspot areas, enabling the service to allocate the right resources and operate more effectively.
The council said: “Community Protection has experienced significant financial reductions in previous years and in the last financial year a further two reductions were made.
“Whilst resources have steadily decreased, demand has increased which will add further complexity to the programme and test the resilience of the model.
“The current transformation programme seeks to make the most efficient use of the remaining resources whilst delivering a safe and legal level of regulation and enforcement. The transformation programme is in its early stages.”
These decisions are being made as part of the council’s Recovery and Improvement Plan.
The local authority has three years to get its house in order on the back of a string of financial issues.
This includes setting up a failed energy company, Robin Hood Energy, which caused an estimated £38 million in losses.
The authority has been warned that the government could step in to control its spending if measures are not taken.
This August, the government wants the Labour-run council to have developed “a credible strategy for long-term transformation”.
The Restructuring of the Council’s Regulatory Services is set to be discussed at the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday, September 8.