The Street Academy is one of the key successes of Capital Standards. Over 550 London Borough Enforcement Officers have been trained to date.
'A well run course, well received by those attending due to the tailoring of the course content to meet the needs of the trainees'.
Chartered Institution of Waste Management's journal 'Waste Management' (April 2004)
Due to its success the course is being extended for a further two years. In addition to continuing the basic enforcement course, and in response to requests from candidates, a new 'advanced' course is to be developed that will train officers in:
Members have access to a certain number of free places and can buy more spaces at a subsidised rate. Members can choose to send new staff on the 'primary course' and existing staff who have completed the first stage on the 'advanced course'.
The Network is currently investigating the opportunities to market the course to other agencies and authorities outside of London. The Network also hopes to secure formal accreditation and recognition for the course that will either give those attending the course a qualification in its own right or act as a module towards a further qualification.
The first ever Capital Standards Enforcement Week took place between Monday 17th October - Friday 21st October 2005 and led to an estimated twelve thousand activities taking place during the week ranging from education activities to enforcement activities regarding fly tipping.
Education was the most frequently undertaken area of enforcement and specific activities included the handout of leaflets, letters and other educational material. The second most frequent area of enforcement was in relation to Duty of Care. Examples of activities included requests for Waste Transfer Notes, various Duty of Care enquiries and the issuing of verbal and written warnings. The third and fourth most frequent areas of enforcement were fly posting and litter enforcement. Fly posting activities predominately centred on the removal of fly posting whilst litter enforcement activities included verbal warnings and fixed penalty notices.
The Capital Standards Enforcement Week received a wide range of coverage across a various media channels including BBCI, BBC London, the Evening Standard and numerous other local newspapers. A review of the Capital Standards Local Environmental Quality survey across all twenty eight local authorities during the period of the enforcement week indicated that the levels of Staining and Paved Area Obstruction improved during this period as a result of a reduction in the level of staining from dropped litter and a reduction in the number of A boards which is a cause of paved area obstruction.
It is anticipated that the exercise will be repeated in 2006.