South Gloucestershire Council Reviews 49

Following a nasty flood at the end of last year South Glos have been very busy on my behalf reducing the risk of further flooding issues here in Aust BS35.
Special thanks to Nick Blanchard.
Also Martin Lewis, Mark and other members of the team….they have all worked hard to help.

Shocking establishment to deal with. We have problems with mail not reaching us which are admitted by both Royal mail and Ofcom. Our council tax was cancelled without notice to us and we ended up paying over 1K in missed payments. Our biggest problem is that i had a parking ticket for a free car park (for parking outside a white line). I only received the initial screen sticker and was awaiting the notice to owner which i never received. no other documents have come to our address. despite successfully re-butting their document delivery SGC called in the Baliffs. (Bristow and Suter) and have buried their head in the sand and have refused to admit that there is an genuine issue. in both cases we were made to feel like we were at fault. A member of the council tax team made my Wife cry. The way we are being dealt with has given us both massive anxiety issues. Our MP is now involved as he recognises and accepts our issues are genuine. I think that they believe they have the full weight of the Government behind them. (not anymore!) we are still waiting for a meeting with our MP and the Chief Exec!

Website is worthless tried to log in in mobile to check council tax but freezing on you have been directed to the new site but impossible to do anything as message doesn't go away basically locking you out

This council is the pits. They're quick enough to take your money but useless at sorting the faulty street lighting out.

Basically we had a confirmation letter and a conversation over the phone saying that we have qualified for assistance bin collection and our first was supposed to be on the 4th of August it was our food waste and recycling and in the letter and phone call it was confirmed that it would be ok for our black bin can be collected in front of our garage door, I said that we store our food waste bin and recycling bins in front of our shed in our garden and to get to it is to go down a side path leading into our garden and said do want me to move it all to in front of the garage or leave it in front of the shed in our garden shed and the advisor said don't worry leave it in front of the garden shed in the garden I did this but it was not collected, and no one can drive in our house for medical reasons and I am housebound and wheelchair bound as well and this is terrible service, I reported it just before 12 o'clock on Monday 4th of August

Oh dear lord! I have used the recycling centre at Yate recently a number of times, no problems! Register car, sort rubbish, turn up and put rubbish in the appropriate container. Job done. Not today! Now slots have to be booked beforehand. So I was turned away by someone manning the gate. So I then had to ring the council, go through a form and book a slot an hour later. So two people are now employed where none were needed before. And cars were queuing to get in. Inside, staff were standing around chatting. Now we know why our council tax has gone up!

If I was able I would not even give South Glos a 0 rating.
You have to subscribe to have your green bin emptied but then it is left, you fill out a form and told if you inform them after noon they aim to empty it the next day. But then do not turn up.

One of the worst Council's in the history of humanity with a Estates/Asset Management Department not fit for purpose.

They can not even show my tax receipt..

Imagine a web page is under maintenance until 17th of March and which can not show you how much you paid in previous months.. When someone buys something gets a receipt right afterwards but this is not the case for SGC! I requested one of my previous tax which I paid and they couldn't send it to me yet.. Are you carving my tax receipt onto a stone and trying to deliver via a horse carriage? why it takes so long?!

Poor poor poor don’t give a damm if you can’t afford the payment plan in place for paying council tax they don’t even care if you try to explain let’s hope central government take over their daily practices

I wonder how many businesses could DOUBLE thier prices for a service and retain thier customers?? This unfortunately is the reality for the garden waste collection now £60!! Given that inflation is under control at around 2%, a 100% increase is absolutely scandalous. No wonder other (no cost) ways are found to ditch rubbish to the detriment of our lanes etc. When will the council wake up to the fact that watse disposal is not a luxury????? added to this the lack of upkeep to the streets generally is lamentable but of course, all will be blamed on central government, who happen now to be thier own clan.

Hopeless at communicating. They are a law unto themselves.

The thickest most inept backward group of
Clowns you will ever come across, rang asking for a c tax bill 3 times, Jan, march and may, nothing, yesterday I receive a letter saying I’m in arrears!? And on this occasion “it’s probably an oversight” !! Wow, if these clowns had to earn their money instead of stealing it they’d be out of business in 5 minutes flat

I would give '0' stars if it were possible. My mother moved from her house over a year ago into assisted care, so the family home is empty, we are unable to sell the property at present as there are complications. My mother is required and has continued to pay the full amount of council tax each year for the family home at £228 per month (where she lives in assisted care she is exempt from paying council tax as she has dementia etc). Through her letterbox at the old address she has received 2 requests to complete a form asking who is living in the house, date moved in etc. If the Council thought to check their records they would realise it is empty and council tax is still being paid on the property. The lady I spoke to at the council said they do check the records. Total waste of resources and tax payers money with a council employee visiting the property, shame it can't be spent on more important things, eg cutting the verges, hedges etc

I've been waiting for 4 months for a refund from South Glos Council. I've telephoned and called a dozen times and put in two official complains only to be told that there is a large backlog because they have a new finance system. Unacceptable. I wonder if I would be able to get away with not paying my council tax for 4 months......... No, I thought not.

The staff are really helpful and the online system is very easy to use - lots of information on the website. It's quick and easy to get stuff done online.

I think 1 star is being generous.
Grass cutting in Yate has been a disaster in 2023.
Unknown to residents the area was being used as part of a government trial where grass is left to grow long and is cut less often than it was previously.

After 3 months of not being cut it was done early September - and a right pigs ear they made of it too.
Whilst the local councillor got involved it’s the the actual management of this fiasco that need to be taken to task - grass is long again and I suspect we won’t see another cut this side of spring 2024 - hope I’m wrong….

As ever, my experience of talking to South Gloucestershire Council is that they are disinterested jobsworths. I echo the experience of other reviewers. Bin situation has been a nightmare and SG don't take any responsibility. When contacted for advice about a complex situation all I get is a couple of dismissive lines in an email using legal terms which they don't explain. I resent having to pay these people's wages...

I very rarely leave a review unless it’s brilliant or absolutely appalling & so I will now add to my unfortunately 1 star review left previously as there is no Zero star. I pay £159 per month council tax which is sooo expensive for what you actually receive for the money. The council made us all recycle & then gave us a new black bin that was half the size of the previous one which I thought as it was half the size it was going to be collected weekly as it was so small but NO. Now we are all recycling everything but with the exception of the black bin emptied every fortnight nothing else that we recycle has been collected. I really object to being told by South Glos Council that I have to drive to a recycling centre to dispose of my recycling & queue for over an hour whilst they take my £159 per month, it’s an absolute disgrace and if this is going on until September (obviously they can afford to strike until then) we all need a refund on our extortionate council tax. Don’t think anyone from the South Glos Council actually reads any of these reviews but they dam well should.