Corporate Standards

The standards you can expect from us

Standards that apply to all the services of the Council

• When you contact us by letter we will acknowledge receipt within five working days and you can expect a full reply within ten working days
• When you contact us by e-mail, you can expect an acknowledgement within 24 hours and a full reply within ten working days
• When you telephone us you can expect the person who deals with your enquiry to give you their name and to take responsibility for seeing that it your enquiry is resolved as quickly and simply as possible
• If you have to leave a voicemail message your call will be returned within one working day and you can expect a full reply within 10 working days
• When you arrive at our buildings you can expect to be welcomed and attended to within 5 minutes
• You can expect to have any complaints dealt with in accordance with our published omplaints procedure.

Standards that apply to specific services

• Household and trade waste will be collected on the scheduled day
• Missed refuse collections will be collected within one working day
• All streets will be swept at least every five weeks and daily in the town centre areas
• Abandoned vehicles will be removed within 24 hours of the end of the statutory notification period
• Litter bins will be emptied at least weekly, and daily in the town centre areas
• We will respond immediately to reports of stray dogs
• We will check water quality, pool and air temperature in our swimming centres a minimum of three times per day and maintain levels within agreed health & safety parameters
• All changing areas and toilets in our swimming centres will be checked every hour and cleaned if necessary
• New benefits claims will be processed in no more than 22 working days
• We will give decisions on building regulations applications within three weeks of deposit
• Reports of food poisoning will be investigated within 24 hours
• We will investigate food complaints within three working days
• Requests for pest control services will be responded to within three working days
• An emergency repair to a council house someone will be there
• A decision will be made on all homeless applications within 33 days of receipt
• Where we use bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families with children they will not be there for more than six weeks

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