Customer Charter

The Building Control Partnership has been formed by Gosport Borough and Fareham Borough Councils with the aim of providing you, our customers, services that are efficient, friendly and represent good value for money.

Over a great many years we have made it our business to ask you what level of service you want from us. This Charter contains details of our services and the standards we will guarantee to you.

Our Staff

When you talk to us you will find us friendly, courteous, and at all times ready to offer commonsense, down-to-earth practical advice when dealing with your building projects.

Remember – we are impartial and publicly accountable so you can rely on the information we give you. We also enjoy a close liaison with all other Local Authority services, so if we can’t help we often know someone who can.

The Services we provide

The main services include:

• Building Regulations: - Plan examination and Site Inspection
• Dangerous Structures and Demolitions
• Road Naming and Postal Numbering
• Access Officer for the Disabled.

The Building Control Partnership is committed to achieving the following levels of service which greatly exceed those normally expected or required by legislation.

Customer Care

• All letters will be answered within 5 working days of receipt.
• Staff will always wear name badges when in the office.
• A professional Surveyor will always be available during the working day, either over the telephone or at the customer enquiry desk, to provide general information and advice.
• We will respond to any complaints within 5 working days.
• All our letters and documents will be in plain language.
• All telephone calls received within Building Control during normal office hours will be answered promptly and always within 10 seconds.
• We will always be pleased to arrange timed appointments for your convenience.

Building Regulation Services

• All Full Plans applications will be examined within 15 working days. Every application will be acknowledged within 5 working days and the Surveyor dealing with your application identified.
• All Building Notice applications will be acknowledged together with, if necessary, a request for additional information within 15 working days.
• Pre-submission consultancy will always be available.
• Site inspection visits requested in the morning will be carried out by that afternoon at the latest, requests for site visits in the afternoon will be carried out by the next day.
• Surveyors will always be contactable through the Building Control Office during the normal working day.
• No limit is placed on the number of inspections made to your site during any day and in the case of an unforeseen problem, we guarantee to have a surveyor with you within 1 hour.
• An out of hours service will always be available by arrangement.
• A completion certificate will be issued within a maximum of 5 working days of the project being satisfactorily completed.

Dangerous Structures

• All sites reported as dangerous will be inspected on the same day as the complaint is received.
• All immediately dangerous structures will be either made safe or adequately fenced-off without delay.

Demolitions

• All statutory notices will be processed within a maximum of six weeks.
• A Notice will always be issued to the applicant listing all necessary conditions.
• Site inspection and monitoring will be carried out when notification is received.

Street naming and postal numbering

• 90% of all properties will be issued with postal addresses prior to occupation.
• The remaining 10% will be issued within 3 months of occupation.

All the above standards are the minimum you should expect from us. Our aim is to exceed these wherever possible.

Value for Money

Our services are continually assessed to ensure they offer the highest levels of quality and efficiency.

Building Regulation charges are set annually with the intention of covering expenditure.

Raising the standards

It is our intention to ensure you are always fully satisfied with the services we provide for you.

It is only by listening to you, our customers, that improvements can be made and if you are not totally satisfied in any way with the service we have provided to you, or you can offer suggestions as to possible improvements, do please let us know.

The Building Control Partnership has a comprehensive complaints procedure in place. If you have a complaint, please tell us and we will investigate the matter immediately and respond to you within 5 working days. A complaint form is always available on request, or you can complete the Report a problem online form.

Remember that the Building Control Partnership is also accountable to you through an elected Councillor who will investigate and report back to you.

Both Gosport Borough Council and Fareham Borough Council also operate a Council wide complaints procedure. A separate leaflet outlining this procedure is available from Gosport Town Hall and Fareham Civic Offices. Finally, you can contact the Local Ombudsman to further investigate your complaint if you are not satisfied with our response.

We are continually trying to raise standards where possible and your comments will always be treated very seriously and acted upon where possible.

How to contact us: General Enquires: 01329 824823