Place & Public Health

Sustainable Growth

Sustainable Growth supports the strategic role the council (and our partners) play in ensuring the economic prosperity of the county. Here, our high-calibre professionals enable infrastructure, skills and technology improvements that our businesses need to develop, promote jobs and encourage housing growth.

There’s a diverse range of teams in Sustainable Growth and Development. They include:

• Strategic Development
• Infrastructure Planning
• Sustainable Growth and Regeneration
• Spatial Planning
• Sustainable Travel Planning
• Transport Strategy and Engagement
• Rail Engagement including Community Rail Partnership
• Transport Strategy

We come together to achieve a series of stretching goals:

• Deliver sustainable growth appropriately and sustainably across the county
• Ensure local plans and other planning documents prepared by district/borough/city councils are consistent and reflecting county council policy and strategy
• Work with stakeholders to develop transportation strategies for each of the sub-regions in the county and to communicate these strategies to internal and external stakeholders
• Secure and manage appropriate funding, land and developer works to mitigate the impacts of development, including lobbying central government for major infrastructure funding
• Work with partners to ensure regeneration and sustainable growth are delivered in a way that enhances the county
• Promote sustainable forms of transport including cycling, walking and public transport (including use of the county’s rural branch lines).

Highways & Transportation 

Essex County Council has one of the largest highway networks in the country – around 5,000 miles of roads and 5,000 miles of footways – and we’re responsible for maintaining all of it. This includes road maintenance, street lighting, drainage and flooding, winter travel, road safety, traffic management, highway development, bridges and structures, grass and vegetation, bus stops and bus shelters, and roads strategies right across the county.

Over the coming years, the Highways and Transportation team will modernise the service, maximising value from technology and raising customer engagement.

Our focus is clear: to improve travel in the county while helping fuel sustainable long-term sustainable growth in Essex and enriching the lives of our residents.

Waste & Environment 

​In Waste and Environment, we deliver a range of services, across three distinct areas:

• Environment services – dealing with issues such as access to our green infrastructure, historic environment, community energy and other strategic sustainability initiatives
• Planning services – offering services related to strategic planning, planning policy and planning applications for mineral and waste sites
• Recycling and waste services – looking after Essex’s 32 recycling centres, domestic waste, initiatives to reduce landfill and implementing a waste strategy.

Our vision focuses on the Essex Climate Change Commission (ECCC). Leading the way in tackling climate change, developing and delivering the waste, energy & environmental strategies for Essex, creating long-term plans to align our wider infrastructure growth agenda and strengthening our environment and minimising negative environmental impacts.

Wellbeing, Public Health & Communities 

Our Wellbeing, Public Health & Communities function is responsible for investing ECC resources to secure better outcomes, establish greater efficiency, and deliver value-for-money in public health and wellbeing initiatives for every resident of Essex. They have three priorities:

• Improving public health and wellbeing
• Enabling each individual to achieve their ambitions by supporting world-class education and better skills in the county
• Protecting and safeguarding vulnerable people

Wellbeing, Public Health & Communities is made up of several innovative and high-impact teams:

• Active Essex – Focusing on increasing people’s participation in, and enjoyment of, physical activity
• Public Health – Supporting the public sector to deliver its role in sustainable development
• Strategic Commissioning and Delivery – Unlocking the great potential of places and communities throughout Essex
• Strengthening Communities – Lead and develop key strategies to deliver self-sustaining strong communities to support Essex residents to enjoy long and healthy lives and fulfil their potential.
  
• Trading Standards – Supporting legitimate business activity by providing advice and support, encouraging economic development and prosperity
• Adult Community Learning – We are the largest provider of adult education in the county, provide learners with as many ways to flourish as possible, across communities throughout Essex, and making a difference to residents and businesses.

Strategic Commissioning & Policy 

This respected team works closely with Infrastructure and Environment and Economy, Localities and Public Health to create great places to live and work throughout Essex.

The future of Strategic Commissioning & Policies success depends on unlocking the potential of places where we can have greatest impact. This team works intensively with key strategic localities around Essex, marshalling resources and expertise inside the Council and with partners to deliver growth, homes and jobs in strong, healthy communities.

Performance Investment & Delivery 

The Performance, Investment & Delivery function develops the Council’s ambitious capital programme (over £1.5 billion in the next five years) and builds new capital infrastructure across Essex. This includes delivering new assets such as schools, housing and roads, as well as serving and maintaining the Council’s £1.7 billion estate. this estate covers around 350 buildings – from libraries to County Hall – and roughly 1,500 sites ranging from residential care to country parks and schools.

The function also delivers consultancy advice across the UK – Place Services – which covers historic, natural and build environmental services.

Libraries

With over 70 libraries across the County (some of which are co-located or shared service delivery with community of voluntary sector partners) and two mobile libraries reaching out to local communities, we want to get the library experience to every corner of Essex.

Libraries are much more than a place where books are stored, they are places where communities come together to learn and share experiences. We want to deliver a library service that is fit for modern life and adapts to the needs of our customers. We look for people who really wants to make a difference for the citizens of Essex.

Registrars

Our Registration Service has 8 main offices across Essex. The Registration Service meets Essex County Council’s statutory and legal obligations and General Register Office requirements, regarding the registration of ECC citizen life events, including births, deaths, marriages, civil partnerships and citizenship ceremonies.

The complexities we have within the Registration Service at Essex County Council can be large, but the opportunity is even bigger. We look for people who can bring new and modern ways of working to the second largest Registration Service in the country. You will be encouraged to share your ideas and experience and be at the heart of creating and delivering best fit solutions under the governance and legalities of our governing body, the General Register Office.

Coroners Service

Our Coroners Service investigates deaths that appear to be sudden and of an unknown cause. It is the responsibility of the Coroner to make enquiries to establish who the deceased was, when, where and how they died. Essex is one of the busiest coronial services in England and Wales, including not only Essex but also Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock Councils. The service is in Chelmsford and has its own dedicated court.

Statutory & Regulated Services

Our Statutory and Regulated Customer Services teams handle the applications for admission of over 45,000 children to Essex schools each year, alongside assessing the eligibility for transport and free schools meals for circa 20,000 children each year. The service also deals with 25,000 annual applications for Blue Badges for those with disabilities as well as highway license applications.

The Complaints and Compliance team manages all customer complaints received by the Council, working with service areas to respond and where possible resolve any concerns. It also co-ordinates statutory complaints for adult and children’s social care, as well as all enquiries and investigations from the Local Government Ombudsman.

Customer Contact Centre

The Contact Centre resolves external customer enquiries and are the first point of contact for queries.

By managing initial contact from customers more effectively, increasing customer self service, and delivering through digital channels, we can offer a more effective and efficient service for Essex residents. And, to us, that’s what counts.