Council officials are expected to take on emergency coronavirus enforcement powers under new laws passed last week.
Tomorrow (Tuesday 31 March) senior councillors are being asked to agree who will have the job of ensuring pubs, restaurants and other businesses stay shut in Brighton and Hove during the lockdown.
Brighton and Hove City Council said in a report that an unspecified number of officials would be designated as “enforcement officers”.
These are likely to include officials who already carry out existing enforcement work for the council such as environmental health and licensing officers.
The report said: “The role of local authorities is limited to the closure of premises.”
It is the job of Sussex Police, the report said, to enforce other aspects of the lockdown such as preventing people from gathering in public places.
The decisions around how the new powers are used will be made by the council’s Policy and Resources Urgency Sub-Committee.
The councillors taking part are expected be just the three party leaders – Labour council leader Nancy Platts, Green councillor David Gibson and Conservative councillor Joe Miller.
They will take part in a virtual meeting from 10am, using remote-working technology. The council hopes to record and webcast the meeting.
The report on the emergency powers said: “Given the serious risk to public health, the council would be criticised, and potentially legally challenged, for failure to use the powers to protect the public.
“The designation of officers to enforce the regulations is an enabling measure and officers will be able to assess the situation and exercise discretion on whether and how to use the powers.”
Any business that stays open can be given a fixed penalty notice, ordered to close or be taken to court for criminal prosecution.
The council is expected to extend the enforcement powers under the Coronavirus Act to
- Regulatory services managers
- Environmental health officers
- Senior licensing officer
- Technical officers in the Environmental Health and Licensing Team
- Trading standards officers
- Fair trading officers
- Highways enforcement officers
- Field officers
- Seafront Team
Businesses are allowed to sell takeaway food and drink – to deliver to people at their homes – but they are not allowed to serve customers on the premises including land outside.
The restrictions are set out in the regulations, made under the Coronavirus Act, known as the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020.
The government is to review the restrictions every 21 days starting on Thursday 16 April.
