Clean, safe and Green – how are councils using an Environmental Enforcement system to issue FPNs?

Local Authorities are committed to ensuring that their city or town remains attractive and enjoyable for all those living and working there, as well as those visiting the area. Parks, open spaces, pavements, the highway and in some cases the beaches and seafronts are all areas that need to be protected from environmental abuse including littering, fly tipping and other harmful offences.

The 4 key outcomes councils want to achieve with Environmental Enforcement are:

• Putting a stop to illegal activity, preventing it from occurring or continuing
• Restoring environmental harm or damage, also known as remediation
• Combatting illegal activity using regulatory control, in compliance with the law
• Catching offenders and deterring future offending by them and others

Councils can use the full range of enforcement and sanctioning options available to them to get the best outcome for the environment and for their local community. According to a BBC news article when using the latest software some London boroughs are now starting to see reductions of up to 33% in fly-tipping alone during 2024*

A Greater Number of Fixed Penalty Notices is Needed

To grow cleaner and safer local communities councils need the ability to issue, administer and process Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) easily and speedily as it is vital to address and deter offences such as littering, fly-tipping, dog fouling, fly-posting, graffiti, anti-social behaviour and more.

Environmental Enforcement efforts are resulting in greater numbers of FPNs being issued and the management of this presents a significant challenge for staff at local authorities.

 

Zatenviro Environmental Enforcement Software

Unity5’s Environmental Enforcement System is trusted and used by 1 in 3 councils across the UK and their Zatenviro Environmental Enforcement system effortlessly manages the entire process from the issue of notices via a robust mobile app, through to the back office. The system then aids progression through the relevant path to payment, prosecution or debt recovery. Zatenviro is future proof and has been designed to work on the mobile phones carried by CEOs (Civil Enforcement Officers), many of which are already using them to issue PCNs. Their additional Zatenviro integrated hand-held printers then become their notice-issuing device.

 

 

Our integrated mobile app enables CEOs to issue both FPN and PCN ticket types and to collate any incident-specific information, fully integrated in real-time with the Zatpark back-office system.

Zatenviro was designed in conjunction with local authority users, in accordance with the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014, and the Littering from Vehicles Outside London (Keepers: Civil Penalties) Regulations 2018.

 

 

 

Designed to offer FPN issuance in line with Legislation

This Environmental Enforcement System is configurable to meet your policies and requirements. Council staff can edit the prompts and offences that appear on the mobile app. Drop-down lists ensure that manual entry by keystroke is kept to a minimum – thereby reducing the incidence of errors and making the issuing of an FPN faster than ever before!

The user friendly Zatenviro software prompts the Environmental Officer through every step of issuing the notice. The interface will prompt the Officer for:

• Offender Date of Birth
• Offender Place of Birth
• Height/Build
• Distinctive Features
• Offence Type
• ‘ID Checked’ allows ID details to be added, such as a driver’s license or passport.
• ‘Priors Check Carried Out’ allows an Officer to confirm if a check for prior offences has been carried out
• ‘Priors Check Carried Out By’ allows an Officer to confirm who carried out the check for prior offences

The mobile app for Zatenviro allows Enforcement Officers to take high quality photos that are stamped with date, time and location for accuracy. Postcode look-up technology gives them an accurate address within seconds, with 100% accuracy. If a signal is unavailable then manual entry is still possible.

 

(An example of the Zatenviro dashboard for mobile devices)

Zatenviro Environmental Enforcement System – Key Features

• Quickly and easily issue FPNs for any environmental offence
• Automate the processing of notices
• Seamlessly integrated with our back-office management system, Hybrid Mail and appeals.
• Customisable case templates, records, notes, workflow and events
• Outcome and performance monitoring, analysis and reporting

 

 

Success for Bromley Council with their Environmental Enforcement System

Bromley Council has seen great results since partnering with Unity5 and APCOA and implementing Zatenviro environmental enforcement system. They’ve issued over 3,000 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) in the last year alone, a high number that shows the effectiveness of the system. The majority of these FPNs were for littering and have been successfully paid.

The success of this partnership demonstrates how environmental enforcement software has helped Bromley Council:

• Increase Efficiency and Revenue: By streamlining the process of issuing FPNs, Bromley Council can see a significant increase in the number of fines issued and paid, which generates more revenue to be re-invested in community projects.
• Improve Accountability: The software provides a clear audit trail for every offence, from the initial report to the final payment, ensuring transparency and accountability.
• Enhance Public Spaces: By actively enforcing against environmental crimes like littering, Bromley Council deters future offences and create cleaner, more enjoyable public spaces for residents and visitors.

Bromley’s success with this new system highlights how technology can be a powerful tool in the fight against environmental crime, creating cleaner, safer, and more accountable communities. Here are some figures that demonstrate the effectiveness of a modern, robust environmental enforcement system…

Russell Peacock, Director of ANPR Operations and Environmental Enforcement at APCOA says:

“Unity5’s system is easy to use, it’s very simple to pull prosecution packs together. Bromley Council and APCOA have been successful in 15 cases that have gone to prosecution – winning all of them. The self-service aspect is very useful and council staff can very quickly change letters or progression types. The reporting suite is great and allows us to pull our own custom reports together. We’ve been delighted to develop the system together and roll out Zatpermit software to multiple local authorities.”

For the Bromley Council Environmental Enforcement Case Study click here

 

 

To contact our friendly Environmental Enforcement experts click here

*Reference: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68029786