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 Building Control Team 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;
• Treat everyone equally and without discrimination;
• 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

We are committed to delivering a high quality customer focused Building Control service within the Vale. Our service includes

• Advice, technical support, plan assessment and site inspections for all types of building work;
• Control of demolition and dangerous buildings.

Service aims and objectives

Building Regulations exist to ensure building work meets construction standards, ensuring that buildings are safe, healthy and energy efficient and meet the needs of all users. Everyone expects that buildings should provide a safe and healthy environment. It is our objective to make this happen and protect your investment.

We aim to:

• Be helpful, courteous, prompt and efficient in our responses;
• Make the process of applying for approval as simple and easy as possible;
• Give free advice at preliminary design stage or in the preparation of submissions;
• Check submitted applications and information as quickly as possible;
• Determine all applications within the required statutory periods;
• Inspect relevant work on site in line with customers’ reasonable requirements;
• Investigate dangerous structures as soon as they are reported;
• Provide easy to understand information in a suitable format.

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.