Agenda and minutes

In the absence of the Elected Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Members elected Councillor I. Hardiman (Wyre Forest District Council) as Chairman for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor K. Taylor (Bromsgrove District Council) With Councillor M. Marshall in attendance as substitute.

Apologies were also received from Councillors, M. Dormer (Redditch Borough Council), R. Deller (Wychavon District Council), H. Jones (Bromsgrove District Council) and R. Udall (Worcester City Council).

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of Interest

The minutes of the meeting of the Worcestershire Regulatory Services Board held on 25^th June 2026, were submitted for Members consideration.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Worcestershire Regulatory Services Board meeting held on 25^th June 2026, be approved as a correct record.

The Technical Services Manager, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), presented the report which set out the Activity and Performance Data for Quarter 1 2026/27.

Officers detailed that the good weather during this period contributed to some variance in a number of areas.

• an increase in noise complaints due to windows being left open for ventilation.
• an increase in Temporary Event Notices (TENs) being applied for and granted, this also was a contributing factor for noise complaints.
• a decrease in stray dogs due to owners likely keeping animals indoors due to the heat.

405 food interventions were undertaken during Q1, the vast majority of which were compliant. The figure was a large increase over the 329 made during the same quarter 2025/26, however, it was only slightly above the numbers from the previous two similar time periods. The 2025/26 drop in interventions was attributed to a vacancy within the team which had since been filled.

The number of reported accidents for health and safety was higher than any quarter in the last 3 years. However, there was not a significant deviation from previous figures so as to cause a concern at this stage. The most reported source of accident remained Slips, trips and falls.

Officers drew Members’ attention to the positive customer satisfaction results, with 60.7% for non-business and 94.6% for business users, up from 53.8% and 91.8% respectively in 2025/26. However, it was highlighted that although feedback was good, uptake on feedback requests continued to be low. If was further announced that although not yet implemented, alternative forms/avenues of giving feedback will launch imminently which may impact the results in future quarters with a greater amount of feedback attained.

Staff sickness figures showed improvement from last year at 0.49 days per FTE, which was significantly below the previous 4-years’ figures for this period (2.17, 1.13, 0.76, 0.9, respectively).

RESOLVED that the Activity and Performance Data Quarter 1 to 2026/27, be noted and that Members use the contents of the report in their own reporting back to their respective partner authority.

The Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer, Bromsgrove District Council (BDC) and Redditch Borough Council (RBC) introduced the report and in doing so drew Members’ attention to the report Recommendations as detailed on pages 47 and 53 of the main agenda pack.

Members were informed that the overall position after quarter 1 2026/27 was very positive with a slight surplus, however, as this was due to timing differences rather than savings, the projection was for the 2026/27 financial year remained in an overall balanced position.

RESOLVED that the Board

1.1  Note the final financial position for the period April-June 2026.

1.2  That partner councils are informed of their liabilities for April-June 2026 in relation to Bereavements:

1.3  That partner councils are informed of their liabilities for 2026-27 in relation to Pest control:

1.4  That partner councils are informed of their liabilities for 2025-26 in relation to additional Technical Officers:

The Director of Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) introduced the report and detailed the changes to the trading standards arrangements with Worcestershire County Council (WCC).

WCC was originally a full partner in the WRS shared service during the business case period from 2010/11 through to 2013/14, partners accepted a similar percentage saving relative to the amount invested. However, In the Autumn of 2015, WCC announced its intention to quit the partnership and, after paying for its exit, took back its functions in May 2016.

Part of the negotiation involved continued support for the service at its base at Wyre Forest House. There were around 10 people remaining in the service at this point, this fell further reaching its lowest point of 6.5FTE, just prior to the separation. Not long after their departure from the partnership, WCC realised that it needed some form of dedicated regulatory management support for their service which WRS agreed to provide. WCC received 1 day a week support from a Team Manager and 2 days a Month from the Director which were paid for by WCC.

WCC have now determined that the required level of support could not be satisfied by the current arrangement and that it needed dedicated management support. It was decided that WCC would employ a Trading Standards Service manager to oversee its function and would therefore no longer require WRS support.

Officers detailed that there would be a loss of income associated with this which would amount to £32k during the next full financial year. However, the cost for the 2026/27 financial year would be less as WCC had committed to paying until January 2027. the cost to the current budget would be approximately 11k.

It was clarified that WRS would continue to provide clerical, financial and legal support and the Petroleum Licensing function to WCC which it would continue to pay for.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Principal Officer (Health & Safety), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), presented the report and advised that the purpose of the report was to inform Members of the contracted work on safety at sports grounds, discharged by Worcestershire County Council (WCC).

Officers detailed that as part of the Safety at Sportsgrounds (SatSGs) function, Officers co-ordinated a Safety Advisory Group (SAG) which included relevant authorities such as Fire, Police, Ambulance and Highways services, along with any other authorities which had an interest in ensuring the safe running of a particular sports event.

The work was funded by the County Council, so costs were fully recovered. Officers of WRS were already engaged with many aspects of these activities as part of their normal duties, so the work provides a natural extension/progression of that and provided a good platform on which to engage with business operators.

To qualify to have a SAG the venue must either be a “designated Stadia” or must have “regulated stands” the qualifying venues within Worcestershire were

• Sixways Stadium –Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club

·       The Grandstand – Pitchcroft, Worcester Racecourse

·       Aggborough Stadium –Kidderminster Harriers Football Club

·       The Victoria Ground –Bromsgrove Sporting Football Club

It was further highlighted that some grounds such as Worcestershire County Cricket Ground at New Road and the Worcester Arena did not fall under the categories due to the capacities and natures of the building. However, Officers assured Members that for events at those venues the organisers often request a similar process (a shadow SAG) to advise.

The Board enquired about SAG meetings for smaller venues, to which Officers clarified that the legislation was very clear for which events required a SAG. There would need to be a change in WCC policy to require SAG meetings for any smaller events. It was further clarified that the counter terrorism law was part of national policy which venues had to consider when planning their events.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Licencing and Support Services manager, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), presented the report, the purpose of the which was to update Members on the animal licencing activities.

WRS had been carrying out animal licencing activity since 2018 when the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 were passed which replaced a number of existing licencing regimes.

Under the legislation, WRS regulated over 200 licences, the details of which were found at Table A page 68 of the main agenda pack. Businesses across Worcestershire were inspected regularly and given a star rating from 1-5 which was dependant on a number of factors including risk, training qualifications/experience and having the correct policies in place. Details of this were found at Table C on page 69 of the main agenda pack and was showing a steady increase towards a 5-star rating average. Officers attributed this to venues being educated around the process and expectations and with venues working hard to meet these.

There were 4 fully qualified Officers undertaking animal licencing activities within WRS with a 5^th awaiting a course commencement date. WRS were intending to invest in another Officer commencing training next year to increase resilience within the team.

Officers undertake inspections regularly to address complaints received; this was easier to investigate for licenced venues as a visit could be unannounced. The difficulties tackling unlicenced businesses, especially those operating online, were detailed in that WRS needed to prove that activity took place which often needed evidence collection, which sometimes involved getting a warrant. It could take some time to address everything properly through the correct legal channels.

After questions from Members, it was detailed that the care and wellbeing of livestock was not covered by WRS, however, concerns around animal safety could be investigated as part of another function such as if part of a licencing regime or in dealing with a stray so there were some options available for officers.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

There was no other business to conduct.

The Board thanked Simon Wilkes for his work during his time at WRS, it was detailed that he was moving to work at WCC, managing up their trading standards team. Mr Wilkes detailed that should the Board request his presence under his new capacity then he would be happy to attend, keeping close links to WCC and WRS In their functions.

Mark Cox was announced as the new Director for Worcestershire Regulatory Services and would commence his new post from Thursday 1^st October 2026. Mr Cox’s previous position would be recruited to in due course.