Local Business Partnerships

The Local Councils and Health Service enforce a wide range of legislation affecting consumers, businesses and the environment, and are working closely with a wide spectrum of local trade organisations, including Chambers of Trade and Commerce and individual businesses, to make sure that the regulations operate in an effective way.

We are committed to working together with the local business community to form a Local Business Partnership in order that the regulatory process can be streamlined: This initiative follows the guidelines being developed by the Department of Trade and Industry to encourage a closer partnership approach between local authority regulators and business representatives. (This initiative is under review following a recent Government announcement on "ACCESS BUSINESS" as part of the its Better Regulation initiative).

We aim to:

• cut out any unnecessary "red tape" when applying regulations to businesses
• help businesses to understand their responsibilities under regulations and so make it easier to comply
• simplify the enforcement of regulations
• help the Authorities concentrate their enforcement effort on those flouting the law
• ensure that businesses compete with one another on level terms.

In pursuit of these aims, Gloucestershire's Local Business Partnership will help, by providing information and advice on such areas as:

• the level of service you can expect
• what the various Authorities' regulatory responsibilities are
• how to get help on compliance with the regulations
• enforcement procedures
• how to appeal against an enforcement decision
• how businesses can provide feedback on how regulations are working in practice and how they can be improved.

Information and advice can be obtained from:
 
The Secretary
Gloucestershire Local Business Partnership
Trading Standards Service
Hillfield House
Denmark Road
Gloucester
GL1 3LD
Helpline [01452] 426201
tradstds@gloucestershire.gov.uk

Details of responsibilities and contact information for other Local Authority Regulatory Services can be found under Enforcement Services