Environmental Action Officer - REQ001364

Job title: Environmental Action Officer

Salary: C3 £31,067 to £32,654 – (scp 19-22)

Hours: 37 – This will predominantly be working Monday to Friday but some weekend/out of hours working may be required subject to service need/events

Contract: Permanent

Positions available: 1

Location: City Centre but could be asked to work anywhere within the Leeds City Council area

Internal vacancy. Applications will only be considered from existing Leeds City Council employees.

As an Environmental Action Officer in the Cleaner Neighbourhoods Team (City Centre) you’ll thrive on working in a fast-paced environment, dealing with different challenges and priorities in a service that affects every single resident, business and visitor to Leeds city centre every day.

It’s not just about emptying the bins or keeping the streets litter free. It’s about working with people, being proud of what we do and looking after each other and the environment.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

The city centre is in many ways the shop window to the city and is often the first and last impression that people have of Leeds. The city centre is a major cultural hub with many leisure and visitor attractions. Keeping our city clean and welcoming is vital to both Leeds City Council and key stakeholders especially the City Centre business operators.

The city centre cleansing team works various shift patterns to deliver a wide range of environmental services across the city centre and south bank areas 7 days a week/24 hours a day.

As an Environmental Action Officer you will need to be flexible. You will be predominantly working Monday to Friday but there may be a need for you to work some weekends and also work out of normal office hours to support specific projects, pieces of work and events taking place within the city centre and south bank areas.

Experience in a similar kind of role is not essential but is a desirable. You will receive training/mentoring to be able to carry out the role which will enable you to carry out a wide range of environmental enforcement related work.

Key requirements

As an Environmental Action Officer you will bring to the role:

Be able to influence and display positive behaviours so that we live the council values in all we do.
Be customer focussed.
Have a great work ethic.
Be flexible in your approach to work.
Be able to work with a wide range of partners to deliver shared outcomes within the city centre and south bank areas.
Be able to work on your own initiative often unsupervised and be accountable for your own workload.
Ability to work outdoors for long periods and in all weather conditions with appropriate protective clothing/equipment.
Carry out a wide range of preventive interventions such as enforcement activities, educational campaigns or activities to tackle the root causes of environmental issues and prevent them from reoccurring.
Take appropriate and proportionate enforcement action ranging from informal actions and issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices to conducting and presenting criminal investigations for prosecutions in court.
Attend meetings such as community meetings/forums, meetings with stakeholders such as Leeds BID, the Trade Waste providers, local businesses and property management companies and other internal and external partners as required and be able to prepare and present information as required.
Work closely with colleagues and partners internally and externally within the city centre and south bank areas to maximise their contributions towards achieving the outcome of cleaner and safer neighbourhoods.
Work as part of the wide Cleaner Neighbourhoods Team to establish close working relationships and establish and share common good practices.
Work closely with the operational side of the team at all levels establishing a good working relationship with front line operational staff and sharing updates with them as appropriate on cases/issues that they report in.

More about the role

Environmental Services cover a wide range of functions and altogether has over 830 staff – spanning operational, back-office, supervisory and managerial roles. It’s an exciting time to join us.

The City Centre team has 45 staff spread across various shifts.

There is only 1 dedicated Environmental Action Officer to cover the city centre and south bank areas so the role can be very challenging often with conflicting deadlines and a very busy case load.

You will report directly to the Area Manager.

The role involves:

Working closely with the Area Manager, Team Leader, Chargehand and Assistant Chargehands and other members of the team to deliver the outcome of clean streets
Carrying out duty of care visits to the businesses within the city centre and south bank areas to ensure that they are fully compliant with all legislation relating to the containment and disposal of waste and taking the appropriate action where they are not compliant.
Regular dialogue with the trade waste contractors who service the businesses within these areas highlighting issues, service failures and working closely with them to find solutions to issues.
Working closely with Leeds City Council’s internal refuse collection managers and teams to ensure that any issues are dealt with collaboratively.
Speaking with and regular contact with a wide range of internal and external partners such as city centre management, development and planning, licensing, asset management, corporate property management, legal services, street support team and others to find joint solutions to environmental issues
Issue Fixed Penalty Notices as appropriate.
Fully managing your caseload from start to finish ensuring all systems are fully updated, letters sent out on time, partners/managers are fully up to speed as required.
Prepare information for prosecution, carry out PACE interviews and attend court if/as required.
Take informal/formal actions in response to a wide range of environmental related offences under various pieces of legislation such as the Environmental Protection Act (1990), Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations (2012) and various other pieces of legislation as applicable.
Being an ambassador for Leeds City Council and the City by interacting with visitors, residents and businesses within the City Centre as required

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities.
a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Apply for this job online. Please upload your CV and complete a personal statement of no more than 500 words which covers the key requirements as above.

If you are selected to go to the next stage you will be asked to do a short presentation. The subject of the presentation will be given to you prior to your interview.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact Charlotte Richardson, Area Manager on 0113 3786168 or charlotte.richardson@leeds.gov.uk

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

We promote diversity and want a workforce that reflects the population of Leeds and the communities we serve. Leeds City Council is recognised in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index 2024. We are also an Age-friendly Employer, a Mindful Employer and a Disability Confident Leader.

All new Leeds City Council appointments are made subject to the satisfactory completion of a six month probationary period.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, candidates must consider their own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the 'standard' salary rate of at least £38,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. For more information visit Skilled Worker visa on the government website. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Job purpose

To work as part of a team which contributes towards achieving the outcome of clean streets neighbourhoods in localities, by identifying and investigating environmental issues and crimes, and taking the appropriate action to resolve and prevent such issues / crimes.

Responsibilities

To carry out a range of preventative interventions, such as educational campaigns or activities, and enforcement activities, to tackle the root causes of environmental issues.
To issue appropriate fixed penalty notices and other legal notices within the context of environmental enforcement.
To investigate environmental offences from the identification of an offence through to court action, where required.
To oversee and direct the work of Business Support Staff assigned to the team on key locality projects e.g. local educational campaigns, neighbourhood target areas etc.’
To support witnesses to offences in being able to take action against the perpetrators of environmental crimes.
To provide evidence for court and attend court as a witness.
To attend meetings such as community meetings / forums, ward member meetings, environmental subgroups and Area Committee meetings as required.
To ensure that the highest standards of customer service are provided and that customers are kept promptly and fully informed.
To ensure that relevant databases and information systems are kept accurately updated and reflect current work activities.
To contribute to the development of the service and adopt a One Council approach.
To contribute to gathering intelligence and statistical information which helps to measure the success of interventions.
To work with partners, in particular the Police and ALMOs, in order to maximise their contributions towards achieving the outcome of clean streets/neighbourhoods.
To work as part of the Locality Team, including instances where assistance may be required with street cleansing functions.
To build effective working relationships with street cleansing staff to resolve issues.
To work with local elected Members to achieve the outcome of cleaner streets/neighbourhoods within the framework agreed in the Service Level Agreements.
To undertake any other duties commensurate to the grade, as required

Work hours and patterns

The post holder will be required to work flexible hours occasionally to meet service requirements which will usually be within the provisions of the Councils flexitime scheme (between 7am and 7pm). There may however be an occasional requirement for additional hours to be worked which will be recompensed in accordance with NJC for Local Government Service Terms and Conditions as adopted or amended by the Council or local agreement. In all circumstances a reasonable period of notice will be provided.

There may also be occasions where you could be called upon at short notice and in exceptional circumstances to provide a proportionate response to an emergency situation out of office hours, if you are able to do so. In these situations, the Council has the discretion to pay an allowance in accordance with the time worked or apply an inclusive rate of pay to take into account all features of the job.

In certain circumstances, in the interests of operational efficiency, rota cycles can be varied subject to appropriate consultation and with reasonable notice.

Essential requirements It is essential that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria. Candidates will only be shortlisted if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements.

Ability to contribute to service developments relevant to the post.
Ability to monitor performance effectively and achieve personal objectives and outcomes.
Experience of working within a service area relevant to the post.
Ability to understand and implement regulations, policy, and legislation.
Ability to prepare accurate information / statistics for case files / activity reports.
Ability to prepare letters and e-mails for communication with customers.
Ability to investigate and assess the most appropriate course of action to resolve issues and prevent reoccurrences.
Ability to prepare case files for formal enforcement action
Experience in preparing case files for formal enforcement action
Ability to put the corporate vision and values into practice.
Ability to plan, manage and evaluate projects and workloads.
Ability to implement systems and processes which deliver service excellence and agreed service outcomes.
An ability to work on own initiative, embracing change and new ways of working
Understanding of the local government context.
Understanding of the role of Elected members within the council and the community.
Good communication skills, both verbal and written
Experience of presenting information on your work.
Ability to resolve potential conflict and to gain co-operation and trust.
Ability to make an effective contribution to internal/external working groups and meetings, as required.
Excellent interpersonal abilities, showing due regard for colleagues and customers alike.
An ability to work independently and within a team, contributing to team goals through good personal performance.
Ability to develop productive working relationships that command respect, trust and confidence.
Experience of working effectively with others to deliver projects and work streams.
Ability to manage competing priorities and adapting to changing circumstances and priorities
Good understanding of the diverse needs of customers and of involving them effectively in identifying areas for service improvement.
A commitment to the public service ethos, with a genuine interest in serving the public.
Recognition and acceptance of the importance of the customer perspective in determining how services are best delivered.
Experience in providing excellent services to the public
An ability and commitment to work in a safe manner, regarding self and others
Ability to use I.T. systems e.g. case management systems/ databases and e-mail

Essential Behavioural and other Characteristics

Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct
Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
Be aware of and be able to understand and observe Leeds City Council policies.
Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety.
Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities
Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
Be aware of and support difference ensuring equality for all, working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity.
Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person
The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.

Desirable requirements It is desirable that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria. Candidates are not required to meet all the desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates.

Experience of reporting to and working effectively with a range of colleagues and partners
Experience of problem solving, individually and in a group setting
Professional or technical qualification relevant to the work of the post

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