Who we are & what we do

Wisbech Town Council is the Parish Council for Wisbech.

It has 18 COUNCILLORS and three members of staff

Wisbech Town Council manages:

• Allotments (various sites about Wisbech)
• Wisbech Market
• Wisbech Castle
• Public toilets (Wisbech Park and Exchange Square). NB Exchange Square toilets are currently closed.
• One car park (behind the Queen Mary Centre).

Further details can be found on this website.

Wisbech Town Council organises several Festivals and events in the town each year - watch the website and local press for details.

For other elected, local representatives, please see HERE and scroll down

Wisbech Town Council appreciates comments to improve the quality of the services that it provides, and to encourage good practice by its staff. The officers are trained and dedicated to being polite, helpful, and to treat members of the public with the respect they deserve at all times. If you wish to compliment or comment upon Council services please write to the Town Clerk at info@wisbechtowncouncil.gov.uk.

The council wants to make it as easy as possible for you to let it know your views, as the council is committed to providing a good quality service. If appropriate, staff will direct you to other authorities or organisations that may be able to help you.

As misunderstandings can, and do arise; if you wish to make a complaint, please follow the steps outlined below to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

If you feel that Wisbech Town Council has not acted correctly, or failed to act when it should have done, the first thing you should do is contact the officer with whom you have been dealing and ask him/her to rectify the situation or explain why the council has acted in the way it has.

To help the council deal effectively with your complaint, you will need to inform it of the following(in writing please):

• What the problem is and how it had occurred
• How it has affected you
• What you consider the council should now do to put the matter right.

What can I complain about?

A complaint must be about something specific. It is most likely to be about one or more of the following:

• The standard of service provided by the council
• Failure by the council to provide an agreed service
• Failure by the council to respond to a request for one of its services
• That the Council had exceeded its powers
• That the attitude or conduct of an officer had been unacceptable
• That the Council had not followed an agreed procedure.

How will the complaint be dealt with?

Complaints obviously differ both in nature and complexity but, when dealing with any complaints made in accordance with the Complaints Procedure, three basic principles will apply and the council pledges to:

1. investigate a complaint as quickly and impartially as possible - this will initially be carried out by the officer concerned

2. provide you with a full response that outlines the findings of the investigation and, wherever possible

3. attempt to resolve the matter to your satisfaction.

Please Note: This Complaints Procedure does not cover:

• Requests for a service
• Requests for information or an explanation of council policy or practice
• Matters for which there is an existing right of appeal (either within the council itself or to an independent tribunal) or legal remedy
• Complaints which have not been received in accordance with the timescales set out in the Timescales section of the Complaints Procedure set out below.

For any of the above, please contact the Town Clerk with your query or concerns.

Wisbech Town Council
1 North Brink
Wisbech PE13 1JR

Tel: 01945 461333

e-mail: info@wisbechtowncouncil.gov.uk

Website: www.wisbechtowncouncil.gov.uk

VAT Registration Number 170 3469 15

Office hours 9.00 – 3.00pm Monday to Friday inclusive

Complaints Procedure

1. Contact is made with the officer involved: You can find contact details above.
2. If the complaint is not dealt with satisfactorily, please write to the Town Clerk, who will acknowledge your complaint within 3 working days of receipt and provide a full response within 10 working days of receipt (Stage 1).
3. If still unresolved, the complaint should be taken to the Leader of the Council who will endeavour to ensure the complaint is dealt with satisfactorily (Stage 2). You may also contact your local Town Councillors if you wish.
4. If further action is necessary, you may request that the matter be referred to a meeting of Wisbech Town Council for consideration (Stage 3). Your request will be acknowledged within 3 working days of receipt. A full response will be given immediately after the meeting of the council at which the matter is considered (an extra-ordinary meeting may be called in the event that the matter warrants urgency).

Timescales

• The initial complaint should be submitted to the council within 3 months of the event which caused the complaint to be made (Stage 1)
• A request for escalation of the complaint to Stage 2 must be submitted to the council within 6 months of receiving a response from the council to the Stage 1 complaint
• A request for escalation to Stage 3 of the council's Complaints Procedure must be submitted to the council within 3 months of receiving a response to the Stage 2 complaint.

How can I complain about the conduct of a councillor?

If you wish to make a formal complaint about an individual councillor's conduct you need to contact the local Monitoring Officer. For Wisbech Town Councillors this is the Monitoring Officer based at Fenland District Council.

http://www.fenland.gov.uk/

e-mail: monitoringofficer@fenland.gov.uk

fax: 01354 606904

write to: The Monitoring Officer, Fenland District Council, Fenland Hall, County Road, March PE15 8NQ

Those complaints will initially be assessed by a panel chaired by one of the Conduct Committee's 'independently appointed members' before a decision is taken on whether to investigate further, consider an alternative approach such as mediation or to take no action. If it is decided that no action will be taken, there can be an opportunity for that decision to be reviewed by a different panel co-ordinated by a different independently appointed member.

I'm not happy with a service provided by my Town or Parish Council. Can the Ombudsman help me?

In most cases, no. The Local Government Act 1974 (Section 34(1)) defines the authorities that the LGO may investigate. Parish and Town councils are not included in this definition.

However, the LGO may be able to consider a complaint about a Parish or Town Council if it is acting on behalf of another council. So, for example, if the County Council had arranged for Wisbech Town Council to carry out a service on its behalf, the LGO may be able to look at a complaint about this: https://www.lgo.org.uk/