Complaints

We strive to provide excellent customer service to our customers.  

Report a service issue

Some of the most common service issues reported are listed here:

See also our Report it webpage.


Roads, potholes, streetlighting and roadworks

Damage to roads, including potholes, streetlighting and roadworks fall within the remit of Oxfordshire County Council 

You can report such incidents on fix my street and view incidents already reported.

Parks, play areas and open spaces in Cherwell

Management and maintenance of these areas depends on their location.  Please report any issues to:


General complaint

Before you submit a complaint please read our Service Complaints Procedure.

Often complaints relate to oversights or human errors that can be quickly put right by contacting the service or officer that was dealing with the matter directly, rather than you needing to wait for the outcome of a formal investigation. Our officers can apologise for the matter and correct our mistake and/or learn from them for the future. This is called a Stage 1 Informal Complaint.

If you have already spoken with the service regarding the matter and are dissatisfied with the outcome, you can make a Stage 2 Formal Complaint using the button below. A senior officer within the service will investigate the matter for you.

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you can request a Stage 3 Formal Review.  You will need to explain why you are not satisfied with the stage 2 formal complaint response you received, specifically each matter that you feel were incorrectly addressed or not covered.  A member of our extended leadership team, who has not been involved in the matter before will conduct the review for you.

Make a complaint

If you are still not satisfied with our response to your concerns, you can pursue the matter further through the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will only investigate complaints which have been through our service complaints procedure so please give us the chance to try and put things right for you first.


Complain about a Councillor

If you want to complain about the conduct of a member of Cherwell District Council or a member of a parish or town council in the district, these are dealt with differently to other complaints.

Complaints of Councillor misconduct