Welcome to theEHP’s newsletter issue 102. View the online version here.

In this weeks newsletter you will find the first Top 10 List of theEHP’s statistical release of 2013 and lots of prosecutions.

Top 10 Books 2013
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After a short break, theEHP returns with the first of its popular Top 10 Lists. The first list is theEHP’s Top 10 Environmental Health Books 2013.

Over the coming weeks the newsletters will focus on clearing the backlog of environmental health prosecution. Once all have been published, I will compile the Top 10 lists of prosecutions for the various disciplines of environmental health.

If you would like to include your local authorities’ data in this statistical release please forward details of your prosecutions to [email protected]. If your local authority does not produce press releases, please provide the following details:

  • Name of your LA
  • Date of prosecution
  • Name of person/ business prosecuted
  • Type of prosecution (food safety, health & safety, housing, etc)
  • Outline of the offense
  • Fine
  • Costs
  • Total fine

I welcome any suggestions on how I can improve the statistical release.

If you missed 2012’s statistical release, I have provided links below:

If you would like to submit an article or Podcast to theEHP, Contact Us for details.

Looking forward to seeing you at theEHP.

Environmental Protection

Environmental Protection: Slough Council confiscates kit from noisy neighbour
Slough Borough Council has seized several items from a house in Baylis Road, Slough after the occupants breached a noise abatement order.

Environmental Ptorection: Rubbish dumping costs £1,600 in court costs
The occupier of an antiques and second hand shop in Cradley has landed a court bill of more than £1,600 after failing to remove a huge mound of rubbish from his property.

Environmental Protection: Two land court bill for dumped waste
Two people have landed hefty court bills of more than £500 after dumped rubbish was found in Cradley.

Environmental Protection: Man fined for illegally carrying windows
A Trimsaran man has been fined £200 for transporting windows in his van without a waste carriers licence. Emyr Bowen Harries, aged 45, of Heol Morlais, Trimsaran, was also ordered to pay £300 prosecution costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Environmental Protection: Fly-Tipping Leads to £520 Fine for Careless Waste Disposal
Magistrates this week ordered an Ipswich man to pay a £200 fine and £300 costs after waste he removed from a house was dumped in two locations in Babergh.



Groupon Deals

Getaways:

Food Safety

Food Safety: Fulham chicken shop prosecuted for pests
A takeaway chicken shop has been fined thousands of pounds for being dirty and having mice.

Food Safety: Hammersmith restaurant fined for filthy conditions
A significant fine has been imposed on the previous owner of the Real China Express restaurant, in Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, due to poor standards of cleanliness and hygiene.

Food Safety: Dudley takeaway fined for hygiene breaches
A fish and chip shop owner in Netherton has landed a court bill of more than £9,000 after a series of poor hygiene standards were discovered.

Food Safety: Croydon food inspectors find blue waves of filth
Mould growing on chopping boards and kitchen walls, storage of food on a dirty floor, and the use of heavily stained cloths to wipe food-preparation surfaces were just some of the filthy conditions and practices found in a South End curry house.

Food Safety: Costco to pay £61,000 for food safety offences
Costco Wholesale UK Limited pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court on Friday, 27 September 2013 to 5 food safety offences. The company was ordered to pay a total of £16,000 fines, £45,000 costs and £15 victim surcharge.

Food Safety: Haringey restaurant fined for cockroach infestation
A pest ridden and dirty restaurant that was closed in January has been prosecuted at Tottenham Magistrates Court this month and ordered to pay nearly £2600 in fines.

Food Safety: Darlington Butchers Business fined for hygiene offences
On Wednesday 30th October Darlington Magistrates fined a Darlington butchers business based at Unit 10 Red Barnes Way, Darlington DL1 2RR, a total of £12,360 and the Council was awarded costs of £480

Food Safety: Taste of India fined for food hygiene offences
Mr. Mahabubar Rahman trading as the Taste of India at 22 Yarm Road pleaded guilty in Darlington Magistrates Court, on 4 December 2013, to four specimen food hygiene offences.

theEHP Book Store

theEHP Book Store

View all Environmental Health Books here. If you think a book should be added to the store, please let us know.

theEHP’s Top 10 Environmental Health Books 2013
I have compiled a list of the 10 most popular environmental health books on theEHP in 2013. This list is based on an analysis of purchases and clicks through to the Amazon.co.uk.

Statutory Nuisance Mineshafts – Methods of Investigation and Duties of Local Authorities
This publication follows on from and updates an investigation completed in 2006/7, funded by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Understanding Housing Defects – Fourth Edition
Understanding Housing Defects provides a concise, coherent and comprehensive introduction to the causes, investigation and diagnosis of defects in domestic buildings.

For this new edition, many of the chapters have been substantially updated and new photographs have been added. There are four new chapters covering:

  • How defects are defined
  • An overview of building and architectural history
  • External joinery and painted finishes
  • Environmental and health- related building problems

Many of the 21 chapters cover a specific building element and include a brief introduction setting out construction principles and the evolution of current practice. All of the chapters consider the identification, cause and diagnosis of common (and sometimes not so common) defects. This book is a must have for all those students and practitioners who require a broad understanding of housing defects.

Putting Wrong Things Right: Environmental Health, 1952-2012
This short film introduces the book, ‘Puttting wrong things right: Environmental Health from 1952 to 2012′.

Housing

Housing: Watford landlord pleads guilty to eight offences
A landlord of three Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in Watford has been successfully prosecuted for a range of offences relating to three separate properties.

Housing: Unlicensed Liverpool landlord operated student flats
A Liverpool man who was refused a licence to run multi-occupancy houses continued to operate student flats.

Housing: Liverpool landlord fined for fire hazard
A landlord has been fined more than £4,000 for breaches of fire and safety regulations.

Housing: Westminster City Council left 40 homeless families in B&B for too long
Westminster City Council has been housing families in bed and breakfast accommodation for longer than the recommended legal limit of six weeks, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has found.

Housing: Haringey landlord fined for ignoring property management laws
The owner of a restaurant in Green Lanes has been fined £11,620 by Tottenham Magistrates for ignoring property management laws and failing to comply with a special licensing scheme that regulates HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) in the Harringay Ladder area.

Housing: Darlington landlord prosecuted
DARLINGTON Council has prosecuted a local landlord for failing to apply for a Mandatory License for a House in Multiple Occupation and for providing false and misleading information to avoid licensing.

Housing: Carmarthenshire landlord prosecution
The landlords of a property converted into three flats in Carmarthen’s King Street have been prosecuted for three offences under section 30 of the Housing Act 2004.

Housing: Cardiff prosecutes letting agent over Management Regs breach
Alpha Properties Cardiff Ltd, operating under the trading name of Acorn Residentials, has been prosecuted at Cardiff Magistrates Court and fined £2000 on November 14 for failure to comply with the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Wales) Regulations 2006.

Housing: Estate agent prosecuted by Camden
Camden Council has successfully prosecuted a rogue estate agency in the week that they launch a campaign to improve standards in the private rented sector.



Public Health

Public Health: Man to pay fines and costs totalling £754 following dog fouling incident
At Truro Magistrates Court on Friday 08 November 2013, Newquay resident Mr Roger Parks Hobkinson (70) of Clifden Close, was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £754 for failing to clear up after a dog in his control had fouled at The Gannel, Newquay. The dog was also not wearing a collar.

Resources

A Guide to BS 5839-6:2013
This new book, fully revised and updated in its third edition, is the comprehensive guide to BS 5839-6:2013. Based on in-depth experience of developing this code of practice as well as its use in the field, this book provides full background explanation and discusses the practical application of its recommendations.

A Guide to BS 5839-1:2013
This new book, fully revised and updated in its fourth edition, is the comprehensive guide to BS 5839-1:2013. Based on in-depth experience of developing this code of practice as well as its use in the field, this book provides full background explanation and discusses the practical application of its recommendations.

A Guide to BS 5839-8:2013
This new book, fully revised and updated in its third edition, is the comprehensive guide to BS 5839-8:2013. Based on in-depth experience of developing this code of practice as well as its use in the field, this book provides full background explanation and discusses the practical application of its recommendations.

RPT Decisions