Decision details

The following alterations have been made to the service delivery of the Building Control function.

Site Visits – Requests for site visits are being recorded as this is the minimum legal requirement as set by legislation. Visit requests are then assessed by the individual officers, where a site visit is not essential then the contractor can provide photographic evidence of the element of work in question.

Where site visits are required then an assessment is made by the officer in accordance with the attached site visit risk assessment form.

Submission of applications – We have contacted our regular agents and advised them that the ability to submit a paper application is likely to be removed at short notice and that they should look to submit electronic documents.

Office Work – Where staff have the ability to work from home then there primary place of employment is now at home, phones have been diverted and new practice and procedure documents have been given to all staff. Nominal costs incurred for head-sets / head-phones so that incoming calls remain private.

Payment Of Fees – All payment of fees to be made online, previously accepted cheques, phone payments and payments at the town hall.

Complaints about unauthorised Work – We will accept photographic evidence, and inform owners of their legal obligations, formal enforcement powers last for up to 2 years so these issues will be dealt with at a later date.

Acceptance of Building / Initial Notice – These applications are being automatically accepted to reduce the processing workload. An electronic note will be added to the case file by the building control manager / team leader to act as the formal acceptance signature.

Legal Notices / Documents – While we have access to the office we will try and issue paper documents, once paper documents are no longer available we will issue electronic documents.