Council’s planning department recognised for excellent customer service

Team leaders from planning development services

South Gloucestershire Council’s planning development services have been re-accredited with the Government’s Customer Service Excellence (CSE) standard for providing high quality, customer-focused services.

The CSE is a national standard which recognises organisations with a firm focus on customer satisfaction and which go the extra mile to deliver it

Residents and businesses in South Gloucestershire who have ever had to contact the council to register a planning application, discuss a development control issue or any planning breaches will have dealt with a member of the development services team (pictured).

The council underwent re-accreditation and an independent on-site assessment of services was carried out in the summer. The assessors found that an “exemplary standard of customer service delivery” had been maintained since the last inspection in all of the assessment areas.

Examples of the improvements made to the services delivered by the team over the past 12 months include introducing a new text inspection request facility. This service was introduced following feedback from regular users of the service who wanted to text the council to request a site inspection during a construction project. Staff have also improved the electronic application registration process which has resulted in faster turnaround times for customers submitting planning and building control applications.

Cllr Brian Allinson, executive member for planning, said:

“To win the award for a second time is a great achievement and demonstrates the excellent work being done by the team to ensure our customers continue to be at the heart of the services they deliver.”

Martin Harris, deputy head of development services, added:

“Maintaining these high standards of customer service shows a real commitment by staff and managers to make our customers a priority. It is especially pleasing that we have achieved ‘exemplary standard’ in a number of areas, underlining that South Gloucestershire Council continues to be a high-performing authority.”

Photo: Team leaders from South Gloucestershire Council’s planning development services (L-R): Maria Harvey, Rhian Drewett, Kevan Hooper, Olivia Tresise and Michelle Harwood.

Source: South Gloucestershire Council

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