A new partnership arrangement is helping a South Lakeland firm to cut through the red tape to concentrate on building its successful business.
South Lakeland District Council (SLDC) has signed a deal with major kitchen and homeware company Lakeland, based in Windermere, to manage all its environmental health and licensing regulation.
The partnership is the first time that SLDC has entered in to a ‘Primary Authority’ arrangement.
Primary Authority partnerships were introduced by the government to allow businesses to be involved in their own regulation, forming agreements with one local authority to provide reliable advice on everything from environmental health to fire safety, licensing and trading standards legislation.
The aim is to ensure that regulation advice is consistent and robust, and means that if any regulator wants to carry out an inspection of a business or address a possible non-compliance issue they must go through the primary authority.
SLDC Environmental Health Officer Peter Adams explained how a Primary Authority partnership works.
“Many businesses, especially those trading nationally with many outlets, have found that enforcement practices can vary significantly from one area to another, which can cause real headaches trying to comply with all the local interpretation of the rules," he said.
“As a Primary Authority we can draw up a ‘standard’ that can be applied across the whole business and must be taken into account by the local regulators, which ensures more consistent regulation.
“It helps businesses to introduce practices and procedures knowing that they can rely on sound advice about compliance.
“It frees the company up from sometimes inconsistent and confusing red tape, reduces their operational costs and allows them to focus on running and developing the business.’’
SLDC will now look after the regulation of all of Lakeland’s food safety, health and safety, licensing and pollution control across its 70 stores, offices and distribution centres nationally, making a charge for the work its officers do for Lakeland.
The partnership has been approved by the government’s Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), which monitors Primary Authorities on behalf of the Secretary of State.
Nationally there are more than 6,700 businesses in Primary Authority partnerships with more than 150 local authorities.
Councillor Sue Sanderson, South Lakeland District Council portfolio holder for Environment and People, said: “This is an excellent example of partnership working and the council being able to use its officers’ expertise to provide a service to benefit a local business.