Director of Operations: Steve Davies

The Director of Operations has overall responsibility for Car Parks, Operational Services, Venues, Procurement & Projects, Housing & Environmental Services, Planning & Building Control and Customer Services.

email: sdavies@epsom-ewell.gov.uk

  

Car Parks

• Management of the Council’s off-street car parks and decriminalised parking enforcement. 

Operational Services

• Responsibility for the Patrol Ranger Service and Downskeepers
• Refuse collection and recycling
• The Routecall shopping service, Community Alarms and Meals on Wheels
• Management of the Council’s vehicle fleet, street cleansing and graffiti removal
• Maintenance and replacement of elements of street and parks furniture
• Day-to-day management of public space insofar as it is the responsibility of this Council
• Management of Allotments and home ground agreements
• The abandoned car removal programme.

The table below shows how the responsibilities of Epsom & Ewell Borough Council and Surrey County Council relate in this area.

EEBC responsibility	SCC responsibility
Refuse collection and recycling	Refuse disposal
Street cleansing and removal of graffiti from “Borough” surfaces	Control of weeds on the highways and removal of graffiti from “County Council” surfaces
Maintenance of parks and EEBC “private” roads (eg maintains paths on Longmead Estate)	Maintenance of public highways (potholes, surfaces, lines etc)
EEBC verge cutting (as agent for the County)	Verge maintenance
Planting and maintenance of highway trees (as agent for the County)
Installation, replacement and maintenance of street nameplates, litter and dog bins, parks and highways benches, planters, bus shelters, cycle racks and lamp columns off the highway	Installation, replacement and maintenance of highway signs and lamp columns on the highway

Note: this table provides only a broad overview of responsibilities.

Defects that relate to SCC as well as EEBC may be reported via Customer Services.

Venues

• Running of the Epsom Playhouse and the Myers Studio Theatre and the day to day management of Bourne Hall
• Overall management of the Ebbisham Centre on behalf of EEBC and Surrey County Council
• Management of Bourne Hall Museum and Heritage services in the Borough
• Running of 2 social centres for older people - Longmead and The Wells
• Ewell Court House

Procurement & Projects

• Advises on all aspects of procurement, contract management, project management, e-procurement and public private partnerships
• Manages the major service contracts - Facilities Management, Grounds Maintenance and the Rainbow Management Contract
• Provides project management responsibility for delivering the capital programme covering parks, open spaces, the Hospital Cluster and general environment improvements
• Progresses our corporate sustainability and energy conservation objectives and priorities (the Sustainable Energy Officer's post is shared with Elmbridge Borough Council).

Housing & Environmental Services

Environmental Health

• Protects and improves the health, safety and welfare of local residents, visitors and people who work in the Borough.
• Takes a lead role on Clinical Waste collection and disposal via contractor, Pest Control and Stray Dogs contracts
• Provides Food Safety advice and enforcement of hygiene standards in food businesses
• Provides Health and Safety advice, investigates accidents and enforces Health and Safety in commercial premises
• Receives notification and investigates Infectious Diseases
• Deal with air quality and pollution complaints including bonfires, smells and vapour emissions
• Deals with Noise Nuisance from domestic, commercial and industrial premises and construction
• Enforces standards and secures improvements to Private Sector Housing
• Implements the contaminated land strategy
• Deals with Grants, Licensing and Energy Efficiency functions
• Enforces and issues licences for alcohol, public entertainment, late night refreshment, taxi licensing, street trading, charity collections, gaming permits, pet shops and other animal establishments
• Manages burial services and ensures Epsom Cemetery grounds are properly maintained.

Housing

• Responsible for housing needs and enabling activities after stock transfer, eg housing advice, homelessness waiting list and affordable housing development
• Front line housing queries, housing waiting list and shared private ownership
• Manages the two legal gypsy sites at Kiln Lane and Cox Lane

• Landlords and lettings and the Community Housing Project.

Planning & Building Control

Planning

• Deals with householder and other applications and resulting appeals, pre-application and post-decision discussions, consultations from neighbouring authorities and general enquiries
• Protected trees and trees on development sites
• Provides Planning specialist design advice, design and implementing environmental improvement schemes and deals with Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas and some of the Hospital Cluster planning issues
• Provides design advice on some Planning Applications, particularly if they involve Listed Buildings or sites in Conservation Areas
• Administrates the Council’s Historic Buildings Grants scheme
• Responsible for Design Strategy for Epsom town centre
• Responsible for nature conservation, public access and interpretation on Epsom Common Local Nature Reserve, Horton County Park Local Nature Reserve and the Hogsmill and Bonesgate Open Spaces.

Building Control

• Ensures building work complies with the Building Regulations in respect of health, safety, energy conservation, access and facilities
• Deals with dangerous buildings/structures and demolition.

Customer Services

• The Head of Customer Services is strategically responsible for Customer Contact Centre, Support Group, Reception and Information Hub. Taking incoming calls and managing each enquiry to a satisfactory conclusion as well as handling supporting administration.  Agents work on their own initiative and liaise with various people within the organisation.  They also work on the main reception desk on a rotational basis
• Support Group plays a vital role in enabling the delivery of key services to the community
• Undertake activities required to support processes such as building control, planning, environmental health, local land charges, allotments, venue bookings and decriminalised parking.