One hundred and forty one complaints, one hundred and nineteen answered within five working days. The twenty two that were not are the point of publishing this.
The ward publishes its complaint figures every quarter on the board outside the office and on this site. Here are the last three months.
One hundred and forty one complaints and requests were entered in the book. One hundred and nineteen had an answer within five working days. Twenty two did not, and eleven of those took more than a fortnight.
What the twenty two were about. Fourteen were city faults where this office had forwarded the matter and had nothing to report back, which is a bad reason for silence but an honest one: the ward now sends a note saying exactly that on day five, rather than waiting until it has something to say. Five were registry matters that needed a document from another office. Three were about parking bays and were waiting for a meeting.
What the largest group of complaints was about. Parking, forty one of them, which is what it is every quarter. Then waste collection at twenty six, mostly missed collections on two streets, which went to the city with the ward's note and produced a change to the round on one of them. Then lighting and drains at twenty two, then construction at nineteen.
Three complaints were about this office. Two were about waiting times at the desk and one was about a member of staff. All three were answered within five days, the staff complaint was dealt with by the ward manager, and the two about waiting are the reason the appointment diary was extended by four slots a day from this month.
Why publish the number we missed. Because a ward that publishes only the good figure is publishing an advertisement. One hundred and nineteen out of one hundred and forty one is not good enough, the members know the number before every meeting, and it is the only measure this office has that a resident can check against their own experience.
If you have a complaint in the book that has gone quiet, come to the desk with the reference number and ask. That is what the number is for, and a complaint nobody chases is the one most likely to be sitting in the twenty two.
