Climate, Environment and Customer Services

Customer Services

There are five key areas within Customer Services. These are:

• Libraries

With over 70 libraries across the County (some of which are co-located or shared service delivery with community of voluntary sector partners) and two mobile libraries reaching out to local communities, we want to get the library experience to every corner of Essex.

Libraries are much more than a place where books are stored, they are places where communities come together to learn and share experiences. We want to deliver a library service that is fit for modern life, adapts to the needs of our customers and make a real difference for the citizens of Essex.

• Registrars

Across our 8 offices in the Essex, the Registration Service meets ECC’s statutory and legal obligations and General Register Office requirements, regarding the registration of ECC citizen life events, including births, deaths, marriages, civil partnerships and citizenship ceremonies.

The complexities we have within the Registration Service can be large, but the opportunity is even bigger. We look for people who can bring new and modern ways of working to the second largest Registration Service in the country.

Within this service, you will be encouraged to share your ideas and experience and be at the heart of creating and delivering best fit solutions under the governance and legalities of our governing body, the General Register Office.

• Coroners Service

Our Coroners Service investigates sudden or unknown cause of deaths. It is the responsibility of the coroner to make enquiries to establish who the deceased was, when, where and how they died. Essex is one of the busiest coronial services in England and Wales, including not only Essex but also Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock Councils. The service is in Chelmsford and has its own dedicated court.

• Statutory & Regulated Services

Our Statutory and Regulated Customer Services teams handle the applications for admission of over 45,000 children to Essex schools each year, alongside assessing the eligibility for transport and free schools’ meals for circa 20,000 children each year. The service also deals with 25,000 annual applications for Blue Badges for those with disabilities as well as highway license applications.

The Complaints and Compliance team manages all customer complaints received by the Council, working with service areas to respond and where possible resolve any concerns. It also co-ordinates statutory complaints for adult and children’s social care, as well as all enquiries and investigations from the Local Government Ombudsman.

• ​Customer Service Centre

The Customer Service Centre (CSC) handles all initial customer contact to ECC about a range of services including Schools, Highways, Adult Community Learning, Country Parks, Libraries, Registrations, Trading Standards and Waste. Each year, the team take on average 660,000 calls and answer 50,000 emails and 53,000 letters. The team also manage the process for Blue Badges and offer face to face meet and greet services across ECC offices.

Climate and Environment

In Climate and Environment, we deliver a range of services, across three distinct areas:

• Environment services – dealing with issues such as access to our green infrastructure, historic environment, community energy and other strategic sustainability initiatives
• Planning services – offering services related to strategic planning, planning policy and planning applications for mineral and waste sites
• Recycling and waste services – looking after Essex’s 32 recycling centres, domestic waste, initiatives to reduce landfill and implementing a waste strategy.

Our vision focuses on the Essex Climate Change Commission (ECCC). Leading the way in tackling climate change, developing and delivering the waste, energy & environmental strategies for Essex, creating long-term plans to align our wider infrastructure growth agenda and strengthening our environment and minimising negative environmental impacts.

Highways & Transport

Essex County Council has one of the largest highway networks in the country – around 5,000 miles of roads and 5,000 miles of footways – and we’re responsible for maintaining all of it. This includes road maintenance, street lighting, drainage and flooding, winter travel, road safety, traffic management, highway development, bridges and structures, grass and vegetation, bus stops and bus shelters, and roads strategies right across the county.

Over the coming years, the Highways and Transportation team will modernise the service, maximising value from technology and raising customer engagement.

Our focus is clear: to improve travel in the county while helping fuel sustainable long-term sustainable growth in Essex and enriching the lives of our residents.