Complaints, Compliments and Comments

Our Commitment

We are committed to providing high quality services and believe that we succeed most of the time.

However, we accept that sometimes thing go wrong.

If you are unhappy about a service we provide or if you feel we have acted incorrectly or improperly we want to know.

The information you give us may help us to put things right for the future.

If your complaint relates to a breach of planning please visit the Report a Breach page for further information on planning enforcement.

Let us know what you think

If you wish to make a complaint, we will:

Make it easy for you to contact us.
Deal with your complaint promptly, fully, politely and professionally.
Acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days.
Reply to your complaint within 10 working days of our acknowledgement for stage one complaints and within 20 working days of our acknowledgement for stage two complaints.
Tell you if we need longer to deal with your complaint and provide an explanation for why we need longer.
Apologise if we have made a mistake and do our best to put things right as quickly as possible.

We also welcome compliments and comments about things we have done right, so that we can continue to improve our services based on comments from users of the South Downs National Park. Compliments are always appreciated and are valuable to the individuals who receive them, any compliment received is forwarded to the member of staff involved and their line manager to ensure they are fully recognised for the work they do.

Our Complaints, Compliments and Comments Process

If you are unsatisfied with any aspect of services you have received, please follow the guide below so that we can deal with your complaint effectively.

Stage One

You can contact us initially via telephone, email, letter, or in person. We will ask you to complete the Complaint form (either online or by submitting a printed copy of the form to the address below):

Completing the form means that we have an accurate and complete record of the issue in your own words, and can ensure there is no confusion or misunderstandings over the issue during the complaints process.

If you are not able to use the form, or have difficulty making your complaint in writing, please contact us to discuss how we can support you in making your complaint.

You can call the SDNPA on 01730 814810, or email us at info@southdowns.gov.uk (please include ‘Complaint’ in the subject line of your email) or write to:

South Downs National Park Authority
South Downs Centre
North Street
Midhurst
West Sussex
GU29 9DH

Stage Two

If you remain dissatisfied following our response to your stage one complaint, you can request that we consider your complaint at stage two.

What if I’m still not satisfied?

We hope your complaint will be resolved to your satisfaction.

If that is not the case, you may refer your complaint to the . Please see their website here for more information: Make a complaint – Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

Please note, if your complaint is about an incident that occurred more than 12 months ago, they will not investigate. Please see the following link for more details: What we can and cannot look at – Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

If you would like to view the full version of our Complaints, Compliments and Comments Policy you can download it here:

Complaints against members follow a specific process, for more information see the Member Code of Conduct page.