Service levels are our day-to-day operational guidelines on how we respond to and prioritise requests.

What to expect when you submit a request

Submit

When you contact us, either by phone, email, online or in person, we'll create a new service request in our system.

You'll be notified of your request's reference number and expected completion date.

Review and assign

We'll review your request and assign it to the most relevant team to have it completed.

If appropriate, you'll be notified by that team to let you know how it's progressing. 

Completion

Your request will be completed or added to our future programme of work to be completed at a later stage. 

On some occasions, for various reasons, your request may not be able to be completed. 

You'll be advised of the outcome, plus any additional information you need to know.

Submit

When you contact us, either by phone, email, online or in person, we'll create a new service request in our system.

You'll be notified of your request's reference number and expected completion date.

Review and assign

We'll review your request and assign it to the most relevant team to have it completed.

If appropriate, you'll be notified by that team to let you know how it's progressing. 

Completion

Your request will be completed or added to our future programme of work to be completed at a later stage. 

On some occasions, for various reasons, your request may not be able to be completed. 

You'll be advised of the outcome, plus any additional information you need to know.

 

We respond to requests where there is an immediate risk to public safety within 4 hours. 

For non-urgent requests, the indicative completion time is shown below.

Request type Time to resolve

Animal management
  • Attacking dog: 10 minutes if in progress or up to 24 hours for past events
  • Barking dog: Up to 48 hours
  • Found dog: Up to 2 hours
  • Wandering animals: Up to 24 hours
  • Everything else: Up to 10 days

Furniture and equipment, including parks and playgrounds(external link)
  • Up to 15 days
Grafitti
  • Up to 2 days, or up to 90 days for heritage buildings
Litter
  • Up to 5 days
Noise control
  • Up to 1 hour if it's currently in progress or up to 5 days for past events
Pollution
  • Non-toxic spillage: Up to 12 hours to make it safe and then up to 16 days
  • Toxic spillage: Up to 6 hours to make safe and then up to 5 days
Roads and signage
  • Sign maintenance: Up to 7 days
  • Potholes: Up to 16 days
  • Footpath or surface damage: Up to 10 days
  • Surface flooding: Up to 6 hours to make safe and then up to 5 days
Trees and vegetation 
  • Up to 30 days
Water
  • Water connection and meter maintenance: Up to 10 days
  • New water connection and meter: Up to 6 weeks
  • Water leak: Up to 5 days
  • Everything else: Up to 30 days

Wheelie bins
  • Bin not collected: Up to 5 days
  • Missing bin: Up to 9 days
  • New service: Up to 14 days

You can see a full list of our activities and services in Volume 1.5 of our Long Term Plan [PDF, 1.1 MB].

Contact us now if you wish to report a problem

We're committed to the delivery of quality services to meet your needs in line with our Customer Services Strategy. We welcome your feedback as this provides opportunities for us to learn and improve our services.

Complaints

A complaint is defined as any expression of dissatisfaction about the Council service or action of a staff member that cannot be resolved at the first point of contact. 

Examples include:

  • Taking too long to take action or failing to take action.
  • Not following policy or rules.
  • Not making a decision in a prescribed way.
  • Giving wrong or misleading information.
  • A member of staff failing to deliver on a commitment made.

Every effort will be made to resolve your issue quickly at the first point of contact. If it cannot be resolved, it will be managed in accordance with section 4.0 – Escalation Stages and Response standards of our Customer Complaints Management Policy.

Contact us now if you wish to send feedback