Customer Relations and Service Standards

Service Commitment

The Planning Department of the Development Corporation is committed to providing the highest standards of service to everyone with whom we deal. Our aim is to provide a high quality service that is value for money, easy to use and offers a variety of ways for people to contact us.

Therefore we aim to provide;

  • an accessible planning service;
  • an easy to use and understandable planning service;
  • an efficient and prompt planning service;
  • a service that is open and explains its decisions.

We value customer’s comments on our services and welcome feedback or suggestions on how they can be improved. We will monitor and review all suggestions for improvement as part of an annual review of service performance to ensure the effectiveness, relevance and robustness of our procedures.

All comments should be addressed to the Planning Department at the address below.

Making a complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the quality of service you have received from the Planning Department or the actions of a Planning Department employee then you may make a complaint.

This complaints process should not be used for issues relating to:

  • Dissatisfaction with Development Corporation, Local Government or National Government policies;
  • Dissatisfaction with a planning application or planning decision;
  • Dissatisfaction with a person or organisation applying for planning permission;
  • Dissatisfaction with a person or organisation (other than a member of the Development Corporation’s Planning Department) associated  with a planning application;
  • Dissatisfaction with Planning Committee Members; and
  • Complaints that are currently the subject of legal proceedings.

Any complaint received by the Development Corporation will be treated as confidential and the information you supply will not be passed to anyone outside those individuals dealing with your complaint or as required by the law. The Development Corporation will aim to acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 2 working days and provide a response within 10 working days.

All complaints should in the first instance, be addressed to the Planning Department officer with whom you have been dealing. If it is not appropriate to contact the officer, or if you are dissatisfied with the response you receive, then your complaint should be addressed to the Director of Planning & Strategy at the address below.

Following a response from the Director of Planning & Strategy, if you are still unhappy then you should refer your complaint, in writing, to the Chief Executive of the Development Corporation at the address below.

Finally if you are unhappy with the responses you have received from the Development Corporation then you can complain to The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman at the address at the bottom of this page.

How to comment on our service

If you wish to comment on or make a complaint about our service you can do so by letter, email, telephone or fax:

Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation
Planning Department
Gateway House
Stonehouse Lane
Purfleet
Essex
RM19 1NX

Email: Planners@thurrocktgdc.org.uk
Telephone: 01708 895400
Fax: 01708 895447

If you are unhappy with the handling of your complaint by the Development Corporation then you can contact The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman:

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP

Email: phso.enquiries@ombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0345 015 4033
Fax: 0300 061 4000

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