Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

The Environmental Health Service promise to customers

Whatever the service, whichever way they contact us, we promise our customers to:

• Deal with enquiries in a friendly, helpful and courteous manner;
• Ensure we act without discrimination to meet customer needs;
• Provide accurate and timely information;
• Treat any information given to us or held by us sensitively and discreetly, respecting any confidentiality;
• Meet the targets set out in our service standards;
• Treat any comments and complaints about our services seriously and to handle them in a positive way

The services we provide

Environmental Health encompasses the following topics:

• Food Safety
• Health and Safety
• Noise
• Air pollution
• Contaminated land
• Private water supplies
• Pest Control
• Infectious disease control
• Stray dogs

Responding to Customers

Standards for responding to enquiries via letter, email, telephone or personal visit are set out in the Council’s Customer Service Charter. You will be advised:

• what action we will take and when;
• what (if anything) you are required to do;
• the name of the officer who will be taking the action and their contact details.

If we cannot help, you will be given an explanation why.

The Environmental Health section will act upon customer reports as follows, ensuring the most serious or immediate requests/problems are dealt with first:

Action within one working day:
Act urgently in respect of serious and major public health concerns, such as serious accidents at work; Major pollution incidents; Major food poisoning outbreaks; Overflowing drains; complaints about stray dogs.

Action within three working days
Night time noise incidents; public health complaints (such as rubbish or bad smells); smoke complaints; food premises complaints; health and safety complaints

Action within seven working days
All other Environmental Health enquiries including non-urgent advisory matters and general enquiries.

Follow up response

We will let you know the outcome of our actions. If we need further time to deal with the issue, we will let you know. We will keep you informed of the progress of your enquiry by contacting you regularly.

Provision of information

There is a great deal of information about our services on our website www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk. We recommend you look at this if possible. We can also provide lots of information in other ways e.g. leaflets.

Other service aims and objectives

The Environmental Health Service also does work which is not the result of a complaint or enquiry but serves to enhance and promote public health issues such as:-

• Programmed food hygiene inspections
• Programmed health and safety inspections
• Programmed air quality inspections on a range of industrial processes
• Monitoring local air quality
• Monitoring private water supplies
• Advice for business  
• Advice for employees
• Providing talks and presentations

When we visit your home or business we will:

• Show you our council identification and authorisation on request
• Make appointments (where possible and appropriate)
• Clearly explain the task we have come to do
• Let you know what follow up action you can expect from us
• Confirm any advise or requirements in writing within 15 working days

Customer feedback

• We may leave or send you a customer satisfaction card for you to make comments on our service

If we take enforcement action we will:

• Put legal requirements and advice clearly and simply in writing.
• Ensure that our letters explain what action is required by you and why it is necessary.
• Ensure our letters distinguish between the legal requirements and recommendations of good practice
• Provide you with an opportunity to discuss the matter with an officer before formal enforcement action is taken (other than when immediate action is required)
• Ensure that you have written information on your rights of appeal against formal enforcement action

Our enforcement policy

The Vale of White Horse has signed up to the principles of good enforcement as set by the government’s “Code of Practice for Regulators”. Our enforcement policy tells you what you can expect and ensures officers act in a fair, transparent and consistent manner.

Help Us to Help You!

Customers can help the Council to deliver the best possible service by:

• Being aware of any relevant service standards (for example, turnaround times on applications);
• Keeping us informed of any relevant changes in your circumstances;
• Responding to letters and any requests for further information or documentation in the timescales requested;
• Treating our staff with respect and courtesy

Customer Behaviour

Our staff are committed to providing the best possible service for customers, and we believe that in return our staff have a right to be treated courteously and with respect.

The Council will not tolerate instances of verbal, written or physical harrassment or abuse of its staff. The Council will record such incidents and may report incidents to the police. We retain the right, where we consider customer actions to be unacceptable, to change, restrict or refuse access to our services.

Comments, Complaints and Suggestions

The Council recognises that communication is a two-way process and operates a procedure that encourages comments, complaints and suggestions to enable service improvement. Whichever method you use to contact us with a complaint, it will be dealt with in the same way.

• A full written reply will be sent within seven working days or, if your complaint is complicated, you will be sent a reply or progress report within 28 days.
• If you are unhappy about our reply to your complaint, you can write to the Chief Executive at the Council using the Freepost address. 
• If, after following the Council's procedure you are still not satisfied with the outcome, you can refer it to the Local Government Ombudsman. We can supply you with the contact details on request.