A Complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction made to or about Council, including its services and staff. Under the Complaint Handling Policy, we will receive and treat the following as Complaints:
Examples
You are dissatisfied with the service provided by Council or a Council staff member.
Delay in responding
You have not received a response to your matter within the timeframe advised by Council and have not received any communication about the delay.
A Council decision or policy
You are unhappy with a service provided and believe proper process
Withdrawal of reduction of services
A Council program that has been running for years has been cancelled with no replacement services provided.
Service Requests, including:
You can lodge a service request here. This link is for Roads, Community Spaces and Waste service requests. Noise, parking fines and all other non-compliance issues must be emailed to: council@cessnock.nsw.gov.au
Reports of hazards or faulty or damaged infrastructure
You can lodge a service request here.
Public submissions, petitions, or objections to development applications
You can check for documents on exhibition here.
Requests for information or clarification of a Council policy or procedure
You can contact Council for more information.
Complaints about matters that are outside of Council’s jurisdiction
You may wish to contact your local MP/representative.
If you are making a complaint you will:
You can make a complaint by completing our form. Alternatively you can write to us or email us as per the details below, or you can lodge a complaint in person.
Council does not accept verbal Complaints or complaints made on Council's Social Media channels.
Please note that if you attend in person, you will still be required to complete the form. If you require assistance submitting your complaint, please contact Council directly.
Although we do our best to effectively handle all complaints made to or about us, there are options available for review both internally and externally to Council.
To ask for a review of the outcome of your complaint, please complete this form. Requests for internal review are handled by Council's Public Officer or their delegate, will be acknowledged within five working days with an outcome letter to be provided within 20 working days from receipt of the complaint.
The purpose of an internal review is not to determine a different response, but to check that all involved in determining the original decision have taken all the required steps when assessing and addressing the complaint.
The external bodies you can contact regarding your complaint are:
Phone: (02) 4428 4100 Email: olg@olg.nsw.gov.au Address: 5 O’Keeffe Avenue, Nowra, NSW 2541 Website: https://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/
Phone: 1800 451 524Email: info@ombo.nsw.gov.au Address: Level 24, 580 George Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000Website: https://www.ombo.nsw.gov.au/
Phone: (02) 8281 5999 or 1800 463 909 Email: icac@icac.nsw.gov.au Address: GPO Box 500, Sydney, NSW 2001 Website: https://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/
In certain circumstances, customers may not be happy with the response they receive from Council about a service or a complaint. This could lead to a customer’s conduct being unreasonable.
Council is guided by the NSW Ombudsman in how we manage unreasonable conduct by customers. You can go to their website for more information: Managinghttps://www.ombo.nsw.gov.au/guidance-for-agencies/managing-unreasonable-conduct-by-a-complainant unreasonable conduct by a complainant - NSW Ombudsman.
See below for examples about what unreasonable conduct is
Unreasonable persistence
This means continued conduct by a customer that has an unreasonable impact on Council.
Unreasonable demands
This means demands that have an unreasonable impact on Council.
Unreasonable lack of cooperation
This means an unwillingness or inability to cooperate with Council.
Unreasonable arguments
This means arguments that are not based on logic, or are incomprehensible, false or trivial in nature.
Unreasonable behaviours
This means behaviour that unreasonable compromises the health, safety and security of Council staff.
Please refer to Council’s Unreasonable Customer Conduct Policy and Unreasonable Customer Conduct Guideline for more information.
Complaint Handling Policy
Complaint Handling Procedure
Complaint Form
Lodge a Service Request
Phone: 02 4993 4100 Email: council@cessnock.nsw.gov.au