Environmental Protection Officer in Kingston upon Thames

Joining us, you get to work for not just one high performing London Borough, but two. Kingston and Sutton councils have a number of shared services serving both authorities, with some teams and roles more focused on one council than the other, but the majority are shared across both, meaning you get multiple opportunities to learn from a wider pool of activities and two different political bodies.

We work flexibly in both Kingston and Sutton offices, and support working at home or flexible working patterns that enable you to tailor your working and personal life. We provide the equipment and tools to enable you to work flexibly, and in return ask you to use that flexibility to be creative and ambitious in the services we deliver.

There are some really exciting things happening in both boroughs. In Sutton, we are developing the London Cancer Hub, a world leading cancer research and treatment hub that will bring together professionals from across different sectors to identify and test new treatments and therapies. Over in Kingston, we are undertaking the largest housing regeneration programme ever delivered in the borough, building new energy efficient housing that will transform some of our oldest Council owned housing.

Both boroughs have publicly committed to doing what they can to tackle the climate emergency and are investing in new technologies and societal change that will help bring carbon emissions down and improve our climate impact. You should choose Kingston and Sutton if you are looking for an opportunity that will challenge you to deliver more, support you to achieve personal ambitions, and expect you to put borough residents at the heart of what you do.

Kingston is a beautiful Royal borough with a historic setting on the banks of the Thames with excellent schools and a bustling retail centre, all surrounded by open green spaces such as Richmond Park and Bushy Park, former recreation grounds for Tudor Kings and Queens. The Council is controlled by a Liberal Democrat Administration and has a council plan “Greener, Fairer, Safer, Together”, that sets out a vision to be a vibrant, diverse and inclusive borough where residents are active, empowered, engaged and able to remain independent and resilient.

The Council engages with residents through a number of forums and events throughout the year, and like Sutton plays a leading role in developing the South West Region of London. Sutton is a well connected attractive part of London that has a reputation for excellent schools, green and leafy open spaces, and a history that drives a thriving heritage and culture offer through our museums and libraries.

The Council is controlled by a long established Liberal Democrat Administration and has high ambitions set out in its corporate plan “Ambitious for Sutton”, that will ensure Sutton remains a great place to live, work and raise a family. The Council plays a leading role in a number of local partnerships and places great emphasis on engaging effectively with its residents, listening to local voices and making their message heard across London Government.

About the Role and our Ideal Candidate

The Shared Service is a professional service requiring technical knowledge and expertise. We are seeking someone with wide experience within the private housing sector, and the passion to deliver high quality services to our residents while exploring innovative solutions in challenging climates. As an officer you will be organised, diligent and flexible with good communication skills and able to work on your own initiative. You will have experience of managing your own case loads and working under pressure.

To be successful in this role you will have:

• An appropriate qualification in Environmental Health or related subject or an equivalent qualification in a relevant professional discipline;
• High level knowledge and experience within one or more recognised specialist area of environmental health including private sector housing;
• Component in applying the HHSRS.

About Us

The post is offered as a two-tier career grade post with the starting salary being dependent on skills and experience. We are seeking a competent professional with experience in Environmental Health or Housing Standards to join our busy residential team. We work as a shared service across Kingston and Sutton and deal with all aspects of residential environmental health.

A typical day could see you dealing with housing standards, public health problems, noise or environmental nuisance, HMO licensing or working with some of our partners to tackle poor housing standards, fire safety, anti-social behaviour and fuel poverty. As a high performing, front-line service we are seeking an enthusiastic, innovative officer who will look to challenge conventional ways of delivering services and provide solutions for the benefit of our residents.

We would expect you to be flexible in your approach, a good communicator and have the ability to work on your own initiative as well as being part of the team. Experience with either Civica APP or Idox Uniform software is desirable. While the experience of enforcing private sector housing standards and HHSRS training or residential nuisance is desirable, consideration will be given to those who are recently qualified or have relevant other experience.

While there is a need for flexibility, there is no requirement to work unsocial hours. In return, we offer a supportive friendly environment with a varied workload and a commitment to personal development to enable you to fulfil your potential.

The Shared Service works across the boroughs with offices based in Kingston and Sutton Town centre and we offer agile and flexible working. The Royal Borough of Kingston and London Borough of Sutton are key partners and have adopted an approach based on strategic collaboration. This has already resulted in a number of shared services including IT, HR and this Environment Service with further opportunities being explored.

Our Offer To You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 25-32 days, plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade.
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave.
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston.
• Hybrid working (dependent on the role).
• Flexible and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks.
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses.
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres.
• Interest free season ticket loans.
• Local Government Pension Scheme.
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme.
• Electric vehicle leasing scheme.
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support.

Application Process

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities. However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses.

At Kingston we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our STAR values. Here at Kingston we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications have been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda. We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role.

As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract. The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.