Council Departments 

Housing and Environment aims to deliver a wide range of flexible and accessible services that offer real support to our community and positively affects the well-being of those living and working in the borough.

We are leading a more customer focused way of delivering services.

To make sure you can access the services you want when you want them we are making sure you can request or get in touch with us in as many different ways as possible, including the internet, email, telephone and face to face.

We deliver a range of important services for you and with you in mind. We:

• Are the first point of contact for council services through our call centre and One Stop Shops
• Deter crime and reduce fear through teams like the Street Wardens
• Respond to antisocial behaviour and environmental crime with tough preventative measures
• Provide high quality free consumer advice through our Consumer Support Network
• Enforce consumer law with Trading Standards
• Support our business community with our Local Business Partnership
• Advise on licensing issues
• Protect employees and employers with health and safety advice and information
• Manage around 20,000 council properties and over 1,000 leasehold flats
• Offer proactive housing advice to help prevent homelessness and establish a fair system to help people successfully bid for a council home
• Make sure homes are decent by government date of 2010 using projects like the Stock Investment Programme
• Promote opportunities for Council tenants to get involved in housing decisions through Community Housing Partnerships and tenant participation
• Manage the repairs and major works programme
• Maintain and collect Council Rent and Business Rates, dealing with Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefits for all those eligible
• Keep our borough cleaner, greener and safer by keeping our streets clean, leading on recycling and protecting the environment
• Keep our parks clean, tidy and well maintained
• Invest in our highways and footpath maintenance and improvement
• Enforce parking restrictions to ensure the free flow of traffic

The department is made up of 3 main areas:

Barking and Dagenham Direct
The contact centre and one stop shops are working to ensure our customers are at the heart of our services offering high-quality customer care and easier access to council services.

We also provide rent collection services which collect rent from over 20,000 council tenants, deal with Housing and Council Tax Benefits for all those eligible and collect business rates.

Environmental and Enforcement Services
We keep our borough's streets clean, collect black bag waste and orange bag recyclables as well as manage enforcement teams that tackle environmental crime and help protect your consumer rights. We also carry out highways repairs and maintenance of highways and carry out parking enforcement.

Housing Services
We provide services to over 20,000 residents including Homelessness and Housing Advice, Housing Services, Community Housing Partnerships and Stock Investments.

Making sure you can access the services you want when you want them, we are making sure you can request or get in touch with us in as many different ways as possible, including the internet, email, telephone and face to face.