Complaints Policy
WATFORD RURAL PARISH COUNCIL
Complaints Procedure
- Watford Rural Parish Council is committed to providing a quality service for the benefit of the people who live or work in its area or are visitors to the locality. If you are dissatisfied with the standard of service you have received from this Council, or are unhappy about an action or lack of action by this Council, this Complaints Procedure sets out how you may complain to the Council and how we shall try to resolve your complaint.
- This Complaints Procedure applies to complaints about Council administration and procedures and may include complaints about how Council employees have dealt with your concerns.
- This Complaints Procedure does not apply to:
- Complaints against Councillors
This Complaints Procedure does not cover complaints against an individual Councillor. A complaint about a Parish Councillor should be addressed to:-The Monitoring Officer
Three Rivers District Council
Three Rivers House
Northway
Rickmansworth
Herts, WD3 1RL
Further information is available from the Three Rivers District Council website:
http://www.threerivers.gov.uk/service/complaints-about-councillors
- The appropriate time for influencing Council decision-making is by raising your concerns before the Council debates and votes on a matter. You may do this by writing to the Council in advance of the meeting at which the item is to be discussed. There may also be the opportunity to raise your concerns in the public participation section of Council meetings. If you are unhappy with a Council decision, you may raise your concerns with the Council, but Standing Orders prevent the Council from re-opening issues for six months from the date of the decision, unless there are exceptional grounds to consider this necessary and the special process set out in the Standing Orders is followed.
- The Clerk to the Council is responsible for managing the formal complaints process. The Clerk is the Senior Officer of the Council. Complaints about the Council’s procedures or administration should be addressed to the Clerk. If a formal complaint is being raised against the Clerk, then the complaint should be addressed to the Chairman. You may do this in person, by phone, or by writing to or emailing the Clerk. The addresses and numbers are set out below.
- Wherever possible, the Clerk will try to resolve your complaint immediately. If this is not possible, the Clerk will normally try to acknowledge your complaint within five working days.
- The Clerk of the Council will investigate each complaint, obtaining further information as necessary from you and/or from staff or members of the Council.
- The Clerk will notify you within 20 working days of the outcome of your complaint and of what action (if any) the Council proposes to take as a result of your complaint. (In exceptional cases the twenty working days timescale may have to be extended. If it is, you will be kept informed.)
- If you are dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, you may ask for your complaint to be referred to the Complaints Committee of the Parish Council and (usually within eight weeks) you will be notified in writing of the outcome of the review of your original complaint.
Contacts
The Clerk of Watford Rural Parish Council
Oxhey Drive
South Oxhey
Watford
Herts, WD19 7SB
Telephone: 0208 428 0449
Email: clerk@watfordrural-pc.gov.uk
The Chairman of Watford Rural Parish Council
Oxhey Drive
South Oxhey
Watford
Herts,WD19 7SB
Telephone: 0208 428 0449