Democracy Spraffa

Regulatory Services Service plan 2023-25

Argyll and Bute Council · 21 June 2023
Back to Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee — 21 June 2023 and its agenda

Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.

Original council PDF · Download plain text

Page 1

Appendix 1 
ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL 
REGULATORY SERVICES 
SERVICE PLAN 2023-2025

Page 2

Background and Context 
Purpose, Timeframe and monitoring 
1.1 The Councils Regulatory Services provides regulatory and advice functions within Argyll
and Bute Council and delivers a range of statutory duties placed on the Council. This
Operational Plan outlines the wide range of services provided within the Regulatory
Services banner, our achievements, performance and priorities for the period 2023-25.
The plan forms an important part of the Service’s processes to deliver national and local
priorities and standards within available resources and working with our partners,
stakeholders and customers. 
1.2 The plan aligns with the Council’s vision of being ambitious, sustainable and connected,
the Council’s Corporate Plan and the Communities and Place Directorate Service Plan. 
Structure and resources 
2.1 Regulatory Services has an full-time establishment of 40.6 Full Time Equivalent (FTE)
with a revenue budget of £1,803,198 .The service operates from four geographical areas
although staff operate as a virtual team targeting resources to the public health and
service priorities 
2.2 The different component part of Regulatory Services are environmental health, animal
health and welfare, licensing standards and short-term let licensing. 
Roles and responsibilities 
3.1 Regulatory Services consists of the multifaceted areas of environmental health, animal
health and welfare, licensing standards and short-term let licensing. These statutory
services aim to protect public health and public safety and secure compliance with
legislation and standards. Environmental Health is the branch of public health which deals
with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect public health, together
with animal welfare and licensing duties. The main functions include:
 Public Health Protection which includes Water supplies (private supplies and mains
water issues e.g. lead), Nuisances, Smoking in Public Places, Port Health,
Communicable disease investigation e.g. Food-borne / Waterborne disease, Covid 19,
Legionnaires Disease;
 Food Safety/Control covering enforcement and advisory roles for food hygiene, food
standards, labelling, export certification, and imported food checks;
 Health and Safety at work including enforcement role in Local Authority enforced
premises, topic based projects, accident at work investigations, business advice and
complaint investigations;
 Pollution Control which includes Noise Control and Local Air Quality management;
 Contaminated Land covering the regulatory role for contaminated land prevention
through development control, advisory role to other council services on asset transfer
and development;
 Private Water Supplies –the monitoring and improvement of private water supplies,
together with providing improvement grants to improve the quality of drinking water;  
 Private Landlord Registration – the registration of properties and landlords who
provide accommodation to the private let sector;

Page 3

 Environmental Health Licensing – the determination and enforcement of
activities/businesses which fall within a statutory licensing regime. These include the  
licensing of caravan sites, venison dealers, animal boarding establishments, zoos,
cinemas, riding establishments, dangerous wild animals, pet selling, operating certain
animal welfare establishments (including rehoming centres and animal sanctuaries),
engaging in other animal rehoming activities and dog, cat and rabbit breeding; and
houses in multiple occupation; 
 Animal Health & Welfare which the inspection of markets and farms from an animal
health and welfare perspective, the investigation of animal disease including avian
influenza , rabies, & Mouth disease, Anthrax, Avian Flu, Bluetongue and Imported
Pets; and the enforcement of the Animal Health (Scotland() Act and associated
legislation. of animal by-products. 
 Licensing Standards role is to provide guidance, ensure compliance with the
Licensing (Scotland) Act 2025 and offer mediation in licensing disputes.
 Short-term Let Licensing is a new statutory licensing regime which came into effect
on the 1 October 2022 with the aim of licensing accommodation which is available for
short-term let, principally for holiday purposes. 
 Assisting with Civil contingencies and emergency planning, with specific
responsibilities regarding recovery from incidents. 
3.2 Much of the work is preventative and the team has an important role in ensuring a safe
and healthy place in which to live, work and holiday. We aim to support local businesses
by providing advice on appropriate regulations and ensuring any regulatory activity
follows the five principles of better regulation: Proportionate, Consistent, Accountable,
Transparent and Targeted. 
Our 4E’s enforcement policy, comprising of Engage, Educate, Encourage and
Enforcement, was very effective in our response to the Covid pandemic. This secures
compliance through a range of measures with formal enforcement used for issues where
there is major non-compliance, lack of cooperation or where there are significant risks to
public health or safety.   
Demands 
4.1  Service workload can be categorised as proactive (programmable) work and reactive
work (unplanned). Proactive work includes interventions and inspections of businesses
for food safety, health and safety, environmental protection and licensing functions.
Reactive work includes service requests from the public, businesses, responding to
incidents or outbreaks, initiating formal enforcement action following planned
interventions, new duties or demands from national regulators (Food Standards Scotland,
Health and Safety Executive, Scottish Government etc) and consultations from other
services (e.g. planning, civic government etc). 
4.2 Managing the service resource is challenging as reactive workload is met by reallocating
resources from planned activity. Professional Officers manage these conflicts on a daily
basis, but the increase in reactive work allied with depleted resources due to recruitment
difficulties and higher customer expectations, results in less time being allocated to
planned activities. To combat this, a demand reduction exercise was undertaken in an
attempt to find new ways of responding to reactive work and release more time to
planned activities. Whilst helpful, insufficient time is allocated to planned activities.

Page 4

4.3 Proactive work 
The team carry out proactive/programmable work under certain legislation. The work is
risk based and intelligence driven. Often specific proactive work is carried out in
Partnership with other agencies such as Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue
Service, HSE, SEPA, and Home Office Immigration Enforcement. 
A summary of the some of the proactive demands is provided below. 
Food Safety 
Responsible as statutory Food Authority for approximately 2493 food businesses in Argyll
and Bute which includes a very significant (3rd highest in Scotland) approved food
businesses which manufacturing premises and exporters. There are insufficient
resources to meet the Food Code of Practice and resources are allocated to the highest
risk sector and on an intelligence, and incident focussed basis. 
Private Water Supplies 
In Argyll and Bute, there are 3,322 private water supplies serving a population of 28,034. 
There are currently 522 “Regulated” supplies (commercial or large private water supplies)
that are registered and subject to mandatory risk assessment and monitoring and
intervention by the Council, and a further 233 have bene identified. The regulated
supplies and subject to a proactive monitoring program to ensure each supply is visited
annually, or more frequently as required by statute, to monitoring drinking water quality
against required standards. Where they fail, advice is issued to protect public health (e.g.
boil water notices, alternative bottled water) and specific advice on improvements. New
treatment can be supported through the Councils private water supply improvement grant
which is delivered by the team. 
There are also 2800 domestic smaller private water supplies registered whereby our duty
is to offer advice and assistance and discretionary powers in respect of sampling. These
supplies serve an estimated population of 12,212. 
Health & Safety at Work 
Enforcement of health and safety at work legislation is divided between the Health and
Safety Executive and local authorities. HSE is responsible for workplaces including
factories, farms, building sites, schools, hospitals and offshore installations. The Council
cover businesses including offices, shops, hotels, leisure premises, caterers, nurseries
and clubs. In Argyll and Bute the Environmental Health team have responsibility for
enforcement in over 3500 businesses.  
In line with national guidance proactive work is carried out based on the HSE identified
priorities for targeted interventions. These are focussed on those sectors and activities
with the most serious risks or where the risks are least well-controlled based on national
statistics and local intelligence. Initiatives have looked at gas safety in commercial
catering premises, swimming pools and spas, risk of infection at animal petting farms,
and nail bars.   
Public Health 
The Joint Health Protection Plan 2023/25 outlines a range of national and local priorities
designed to protect public health and the effective management and control of public health
incidents or diseases. This work largely goes unnoticed, other than during a major outbreak

Page 5

or incident where the investigation and control of disease is paramount, and came to the
forefront during the Covid pandemic. Day-to-day work is undertaken principally by
Environmental Health in the Local Authorities and with colleagues in partner agencies
including the Health Protection team in NHS Highland.  The Plan seeks to ensure that the
standards defined by statute, or expected by society are met, namely that food is safe to
eat from commercial premises, that water is safe to drink, that air is safe to breathe, that
workplaces and other facilities/attractions (e.g. leisure facilities etc.) are safe to use and
that we have a good and healthy environment. 
Animal Health and Welfare 
Officers carry out proactive inspections of animal markets and other sales, and Assembly
Centres to ensure compliance, in particular with biosecurity (vehicles, premises and
people), livestock identification, welfare, transport, licensing and record keeping. Around
140 inspections are carried out per year. The team also investigate allegations of illegally
imported pets from both the EU and third countries and respond to animal disease
incidents, including avian influenza 
Local Air Quality Management 
Officers fulfil the Councils duties in terms of the requirements of Local Air Quality
Management (LAQM) as set out in Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 and the relevant
Policy and Technical Guidance documents. The LAQM process places an obligation on
all local authorities to regularly review and assess air quality in their areas, and to
determine whether or not the air quality objectives are likely to be achieved. An Annual
Progress Report (APR) is prepared and submitted to Scottish Government. Local air
quality in Argyll and Bute is good and there are no Local Air Quality Action Areas in place. 
4.4 Reactive work
4.4.1 The team deal with significant number of incidents and major investigations in addition to
the more routine service requests from the public and businesses. 
The numbers of requests have been generally increasing year on year, with an unusually
high number of service requests in 21/22 being associated with Covid related workload.
Customer expectations are increasing and there is also an increase in formal Stage and
stage 2 corporate complaints 
Year 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23
Total requests 3195 3909 3110 
The table below provides examples of the range of service requests received by the team in
a year (based on 2022/23 data). 
Category count  Category count
Animal Health & Welfare 158  Noise complaint 220
Food related complaints and enquiries 311  Public Health complaints    340
Health and safety at Work
enquiries/complaints     90  Ukraine Refugee enquiry/Property Check   55

Page 6

Health and safety reported accidents,
injuries and disease     36  Approval/Licence/Authorisations application      7
Drinking water related
enquiries/complaints, requests for
assistance  
290  Food safety Alert/FSS reports     54
Export Health Certificates 587  Pests      70
EH licensing enquiries and complaints 64  FOI requests    123
Licensing Standards - consultations 860  Consultations- planning, civil government/liquor
licencing 956
NEW (not included in total service
requests)   
Short-term let enquiries 743  Short-term let applications  334 
4.4.2 Significant incidents can take considerable time to investigate and conclude as often
complex issues involved. For example, a prosecution can take the equivalent of 4-6
weeks of one officer’s time to investigate including interviewing witnesses and then to
prepare a detailed case for the Procurator Fiscal. 
In the last year, number of cases were reported to the Procurator Fiscal for offences
under animal health, and health & safety legislation. The health & safety cases have
followed investigations of fatalities or serious accidents. Of highlight are:
 Successful prosecution relating to an investigation into a fatality at Loch Awe
involving a boat hire company and offences under the Health and Safety etc Act
1974.  The company pled guilty and fined a total of £10,000.
 A fiscal warning was issued relating to a case within a food business where an
employee received severe burns whilst working with equipment. 
 Case submitted relating to offences under the Animal Health and Welfare
(Scotland) Act 2006 for keeping animals in a way likely to cause unnecessary
suffering and causing unnecessary suffering. Accused pled guilty.
5 Risk Management 
5.1 The team manages significant risks in relation to the consequences of serious
communicable, foodborne or waterborne disease outbreak. This is identified in the
Service Risk Register.     
6 Reporting and performance 
6.1 Regulatory Services require to provide a range of statutory performance reports to
arrange of statutory regulators detailing the work undertaken in the previous year. These
include the Health and Safety Executive, Drinking Water Quality Regulator, Food
Standards Scotland and Scottish Government. In addition there are two key performance
measures which are reported corporately.  Performance for 2022/23 compared to
previous years is as follows:

Page 7

Measure Targe
t (%)
202
0/21
202
1/22
202
2/23 Comments
Percentage of service
requests resolved within
20 working days.
80% 87
%
80
%
76
%
Performance affected
by vacancies in team
Percentage of high risk
inspections/interventions
completed
95% N/A N/A 85
%
Performance affected
by vacancies in team 
7 Achievements in 2022/23
7.1 It’s been a challenging year in 2022/23 restarting services post Covid, dealing with
recruitment difficulties where at one point, the team were without 6FTE posts, and with
new duties. Key achievements to highlight are:
 Restarted our official food control program post Covid. This involved risk rating all
2493 food businesses against a new national risk rating system developing and
implementing a formal interventions program. This has been successful although
adjustments were made to focus on the high risk manufacturing sector, as a result
of 2 FTE Environmental Health Officer vacancies
 Reinstated all services post Covid 
 Completed a demand reduction exercise to evaluate alternative ways of
responding to an increasing number of service requests and to release resource
to focus on planned and other activities
 The UK outbreak of avian influenza in 2022/23 resulted in large number of
outbreaks across the UK and measures to control the spread of diseases from
wild birds to commercial/domestic poultry, and in the event of outbreaks, to other
premises keeping poultry. Whilst there were no confirmed outbreak in Argyll and
Bute, a significant amount of work was undertaken to support and inform poultry
keepers, enforce the national restrictions and minimise the risks from a significant
amount of wild bird carcases which were being washed onto the shorelines of
Argyll, and Bute. 
 Supported a wide range of safe and successful events which were organised post
pandemic, including the Tiree Music Festival , to ensure that they were managed
safely
 Successful prosecution relating to an investigation into a fatality at Loch Awe
involving a boat hire company and offences under the Health and Safety etc Act
1974.  The company pled guilty and fined a total of £10,000.
 Introduced support to users of private water supplies experiencing water scarcity,
as required by Scottish Government 
 Councils had a statutory duty to introduce a new short term let licensing regime by
the 1 October 2022. This was very challenging and required the development of a
scheme, public consultation, and formal approval within a 5 month period. This
was achieved and on the 29 September 2022, Argyll and Bute Council formally
approved its short term let licensing regime and policy. This work also included
the development of an in-house information management system which was able
to receive on-line applications from hosts

Page 8

 A Short-term let licensing team was established within Regulatory Services to
deliver the licensing regime. The team was not fully recruited until March 2023
and in the interim, work was carried out by the existing environmental health
team, focusing on provision of advice for all and processing of new host
applications
 Working with Housing Services, responded to the challenges of the Ukrainian
Resettlement program and undertook the inspection of properties which were
intending to host Ukrainians to ensure that the accommodation was safe with
adequate facilities. 
8 Priorities and Objectives 23/25 
8.1 The period of this plan, 2023-25, will be particularly difficult with increasing and new
demands, allied with the financial challenges facing local authorities and the national
recruitment issues affecting environmental health and other local government professions.
Notwithstanding this, service priorities have been identified for 2023-25 (see Appendix 1) to
be delivered, subject to available resource. Progress will be reviewed and reported on. 
Regulatory Services and Building Standards Manager 
12 June 2023 
APPENDIX 1: REGULATORY SERVICES PRIORITIES 2023-25
Argyll and Bute Council 
Regulatory Services Plan 2023-24/25 
1.  General management 
1.1  Continue general review of approach to work to improve effectiveness and efficiency
(redesign). Including: 
a. Service Management: To recruit an Environmental Health Manager (West) and            
build a new management team. 
b. Workforce planning: Continued focus on workforce planning and how to recruit, 
retain and develop our own workforce to combat the national shortage of            
environmental health and other regulatory professional staff  
c. Service redesign. Complete the redesign of regulatory services to provide a            
service reflecting available resources, support succession planning, workforce            
development; demand management, and appropriate to meet future challenges 
d. Performance: Review and develop improved methods of monitoring performance            
across all areas of work as part of the development of the performance            
framework, linked to resources; 
e. Supporting Procedures: Clear & consistent work procedures to improve efficiency                   
and avoid duplication of effort; 
f. ICT & Business Support: Continual improvement in use of digital technology            
to reduce administrative burdens and free up officer resources (e.g. MS365; 
remote inspections will reduce travelling etc) through better use of digital 
technology. Specific projects include the migration of electronic document            
management system, better use of MS365, continued transfer from paper-based 
or site-specific files to electronic documents;

Page 9

g. Officer Development: build capacity by improving learning and development            
process for officers; and the successful training of graduate environmental health            
officers and authorised food safety officers  
h. Outcomes: Continue to demonstrate benefits and improve profile of work            
undertaken with greater use of opportunities of case management system            
reporting.  
i. Savings & Income: Increase income & identify further commercial opportunities            
and savings as part of Councils financial strategy 
j. Where resource permits, work with other Council teams and external housing            
organisations/partners (e.g. Under One Roof, Shelter, Building Standards, 
Housing etc) to provide opportunities to engage with homeowners and landlords            
on housing standards and signpost to available support        
2.  Health & Safety at work 
2.1  To develop and deliver our Health and Safety Law Enforcement Workplan 2023-25. 
2.2  To devise and deliver a programme of health and safety interventions based upon Local
Authority Circular (LAC67/2) (rev12), and the list of national priorities published by the
HSE.  The programme shall consist of work to deliver those national priorities set by
HSE, work to deliver local priorities and an inspection programme that meets the
requirements of the National Local Authority Enforcement Code. All pro-active health
and safety work is targeted in accordance with the HSE priorities or where local
intelligence identifies any health and safety related issue.   
2.3  To resource and provide an effective response to serious work-related incidents,
including, where necessary, preparing and submitting reports to the Crown Office
Procurator Fiscal Service. 
2.4  To provide appropriate advice and information to employers and other duty-holders on
securing the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees and the health and
safety of other persons affected by the conduct of their undertakings. 
2.5  To maintain the competence of the appointed health and safety inspectors to identify
and intervene on matters of evident concern when undertaking other regulatory visits to
premises. 
2.6  Key projects include: 
 Building safety hazards arising from fragile roofs and unsafe shop signs; 
 Infection hazards from animal contact in the commercial leisure sector; 
 Safety of inflatable amusement devices; 
 Gas safety in catering premises; 
 Carbon monoxide from solid fuel catering appliances; and 
 Legionella control in spa pools in commercial use. 
3.  Licensing enforcement and administration 
3.1  To deliver the licensing scheme for short term let accommodation. 
3.2  To review the arrangements for maintain a public register for all licences administered by
Regulatory Services and develop a new suite of on-line public registers for all such
licences 
3.3  To complete the review of all Council licensing functions with the aim of improving their
effectiveness and identify any efficiencies. 
4.  Private Water Supplies 
4.1  Review the charging fees for private water supply related work. 
4.2  Continue to use a risk-based system approach to the prioritising of the PWS monitoring
and refocusing our risk assessment programme on regulated/commercial supplies

Page 10

4.3  Deliver the PWS Improvement Action plan which was developed to address the
outcomes of the DWQR Supervisory visit in 2022 
4.4  The impact of legislative changes in 2017 and statutory obligations on the Council to
monitor and regulate private water supplies is its area has placed additional workload
and resource requirements on the team.  A review of workload and resources to be
completed in 2023 to identify the resources needed to meet our obligations and provide
a sustainable workforce going forward. 
4.5  Continue to work in partnership with NHS Highlands concerning reports of illness with
links to PWS. 
4.6  Advise, educate and promote the private water supply grant funding scheme so that
supplies are improved to provider safer drinking water. 
4.7  Review the Council’s PWS Grant Policy to look at the eligibility criteria for hardship and
consider enhanced funding for supplies that experience prolonged water scarcity and/or
lead contamination 
4.8 
4.9 
Complete digitisation of all PWS paper files onto the environmental health electronic
document management system. Review the existing PWS registers to enable production
of a single Register, and update PWS layers on GIS to reflect properties served and
NGR types. 
Review and refresh understanding of lead in PWS failure protocol   
5.  Food Control 
5.1  To secure Committee approval for our Food Law Enforcement Workplan for 2023-2025
and implement measures to deliver it.  
5.2  Continue to work with Food Standards Scotland on the review of the approach to Food
Control following the pandemic. The Service is also engaged in an emergent national
Scottish Authorities Food Enforcement Rebuild (SAFER) project to redesign the
approach to Food Control applying limited resources to maximum effect and in the
longer term to provide assurance in public health protection, with sufficient and
sustainable resources to deliver the required work. The review may include a new
approach to publication of inspection information. 
5.3  Review demand from export food business for export health certification and attestations
to identify resourcing requirements and the financial implications from new business
trading models which are focussing on commercial hubs established post EU Exit. 
5.4  Food Control – Inspection Priorities 
It must be noted that investigations, or enforcement action, significant to public health
will take priority over the targets specified below.   
Priority 1: High Risk Food Program 
To undertake Official Control Verification completing verification of all *Critical Control
Points, *Operational Prerequisite Programmes, *Traceability, *Authenticity and *Integrity
arrangements within all Approved and other High-Risk Food Business Operators.
(Target 95%)    
Priority 2: Mid-range Risk Food Program (Intelligence Informed) 
To establish on the basis of intelligence an inspection programme applied to medium
risk Food Business operators which may require a formal intervention and integrate
them into an inspection program to be carried out by authorised officers of the Council or
appointed contractor. 
Priority 3 Mid-Range Food Programme (Assurance Informed) 
To establish based on representative and randomised sampling an inspection
programme applied to medium risk Food Business Operators which may require a
formal intervention and to integrate them into an inspection program to be carried out by
authorised officers of the Council or appointed contractors and which will provide on the

Page 11

basis of a sample of FBOs an indication of the state of compliance of all FBOs under the
Council’s jurisdiction. 
Priority 4: Low Risk & Unrated Food Business Operators (Intelligence Driven) 
Ensure that all low risk and unrated or new food hygiene premises are allocated with an
appropriate risk and intervention. 
5.5  Continue to engage with partners in Scottish Government and Industry to ensure EH
Service is structured and financed to best facilitate the needs of the export market and
appropriate arrangements are in place for imported food..  
5.6  Deliver a Food Sampling plan focussed upon the Official verification of High Risk FBOs. 
6.  General Public Health Protection 
6.1  Implement and deliver the priorities defined in the Joint Health Protection Plan 23/25,
working in conjunction with other partners and through our statutory work.
6.2  Assess the adequacy of public health controls at airports and ports across Argyll and
Bute   
6.3  Review the Councils temporary mortuary arrangements in Tiree to identify whether there
is a continued need to provide this facility 
6.4  Review and update of all risk assessments in regard of Blue Green Algae (BGA)
affected water bodies and update as appropriate. Review of effectiveness of the 2022
project that used semi-permanent signage as a route to inform the public more widely of
issues relating to BGA   
7.  Environmental Protection 
7.1  Local Air Quality Management: Continue to monitor and review nitrogen dioxide levels
at locations where members of the public might be regularly exposed and where there is
the potential for poor air quality as a result of traffic emissions  
a. Prepare and submit the Annual Progress Report to the Scottish Government 
b. Establish a strategic approach to LAQM 
c. Respond to concerns and enquiries regarding local air quality impacts 
d. Continue to highlight potential air quality impact within Planning and      
Development control 
e. Review Air Quality impact reports submitted to support planning applications 
f. Participate in National initiatives to improve air quality 
7.2  Land Contamination 
a. Continue to liaise within Development Management to ensure land contamination      
issues are appropriately considered 
b. Review weekly planning lists for developments with potential land contamination      
issues 
c. Review land contamination investigation and assessment reports submitted to      
support redevelopment 
d. Update and improve information on historic land use; creation of a potentially      
contaminated land database (GIS layer) 
e. Liaise with developers or their agents regarding potential land contamination as      
early in the development process as possible 
f. Continue to liaise with SEPA regarding water environment impact and      
assessment 
g. Respond to concerns and enquiries regarding land contamination 
h. Consider potential land contamination concerns in terms of formal Part IIA 
investigation  
i. Review the Council’s Contaminated Land Strategy

Page 12

j. Maintain the Council’s Contaminated Land Register 
k. Participate in National initiatives to address historic land contamination     
7.3   General Environmental Protection 
a. Liaise with and support environmental health on issues such as burning,      
environmental noise, vibration, dust, vapours  
b. Support Service Management Team on National environmental issues such as      
relevant National consultations and preparation of briefing notes on National 
initiatives (e.g. Deposit return scheme) 
c. Support Service Management Team on local environmental issues such as      
Health Protection, Energy and Renewables, Pollution incidents  
d. Liaise with GSS and SEPA on the investigation and monitoring of pollution      
incidents and complaints (e.g. vapour, fumes and fuel leaks) 
8.  Short-term let licencing 
a. Deliver and promote the short-term let licensing scheme across Argyll and Bute           
Council and determine all applications for licence 
b. Review and develop procedures and systems relating to the licensing scheme  
c. Effective engagement with hosts, consultee, stakeholders and other agencies           
(e.g. Association of Scottish Self Caterers, Wild Argyll etc.)  
d. Support the work of the Council and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National            
Park to consider the need for Short Term Let Planning Control Areas.    
9.  Private landlord registration    
a. To determine applications for renewal or new private landlord registration            
applications 
b. To provide advice and assistance to landlords seeking to register, and tenants            
raising concerns, in respect of the operation of the scheme and signpost to 
additional assistance as appropriate. 
c. Develop a procedure for ensuring complaints regarding private lets are            
investigated and actioned appropriately including the ability to make reports to            
the first-tier tribunal and design of a tenant's information pack/leaflet for 
circumstances where our direct intervention isn’t appropriate
d. Investigate unregistered landlords and those with incomplete registrations in 
order to ensure compliance. Take enforcement action as appropriate against 
those who are noncompliant, including refusal of registration application 
referrals to Housing and Property Chamber. 
10.  Licensing Standards (Liquor) 
a. To deliver the Argyll and Bute Councils Licensing Standards Workplan for 23-25 
b. Take appropriate action(s) in response of service requests and applications for            
new licences, renewals and for occasion and extended hours. 
c. Support the work of Safety Advisory Groups to secure safe and successful 
events. 
11.  Animal Health and Welfare 
a. The proportionate and effectiveness enforcement of animal health and welfare      
across Argyll and Bute to secure compliance. 
b. Working with stakeholders, deliver the Councils Animal Health and Welfare      
Framework Service Plan for 23-25 
c. Continue to maintain an overview of the potential impact of the proposed new      
Scottish Veterinary Service on animal health and welfare services within local

Page 13

authorities. 
d. Provide support, through advice and enforcement, to agricultural industry and 
wider communities on animal disease issues, including avian influenza 
e. Review the Councils animal health disease outbreak plans and arrangements to      
improve our level of preparedness.    
Performance targets 
Performance measure Target 2023/24
Measure 1 Percentage of service requests resolved
within 20 working days.
75%
Measure 2 Percentage of high risk
inspections/interventions completed
90%