Regulatory enforcement

The team takes proportionate action in the form of warning letters and also fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and prosecutions.

FPNs allow an offender to accept responsibility for the offence they have committed, without having to go to court. A test is carried out for each individual case to determine what action is in the best interest of the public to pursue. For serious offences such as large fly tips, it is likely to be determined to be in the public interest to prosecute.

Other enforcement actions are also available to the Councils in the form of seizure of equipment (for example where noise nuisance is occurring and likely to recur) as well as Simple Cautions (previously called Formal Cautions) where the offender is given the opportunity to accept liability for the offence with no further action taken. A Simple Caution is kept on file and can be used to support further action if additional offences are subsequently committed by the same individual.