Council can do better than waste time
Today I contacted Council in response to a public consultation regarding a roads matter.
I had the direct phone number and name of the person responsible for enquires on this matter.
On making the call, instead of the contact person, I was connected to the general enquiry line.
After going through the numeric selection options, I was connected to an operator and I asked for the contact person by name and position.
I was then asked quite a list of questions before they checked whether the person was available.
They weren't.
Then followed another long set of questions to enable me to leave a message for a call back.
All this took 12 minutes (according to my mobile phone).
It is unclear to me why it was not possible to leave a message for the contact person directly.
This would have taken approximately 30 seconds.
If all unanswered calls to direct lines take this long and waste so much time, it is no surprise it is hard to get in contact with our Council and that wait times are often so long.
A better system is urgently needed.
SOURCE:
Email, 1 May 2025
Sue Ellis, Umina