If you have any queries and wish to speak to the Development Control Team or make an appointment you can:

The Council may have plans of your original house which include a drainage layout.  It may be possible for the original plans to be extracted from the archives, dependent largely on how old the house is.  It cannot be guaranteed that what is shown on any plan is what you will find on site.  You may be charged an administration fee.  Searching for old records takes a while whether or not they can be found.

A better way to determine the drainage layout is to either employ a surveyor to investigate or lift manholes in your garden and do your own survey.

Remember there may be surface water as well as foul drains on your property, you must not connect foul water to a surface water system or vice versa.  You will also need to remember that other people may have rights of drainage and therefore use of the sewers passing through your land.

You have a right to see plans deposited for any planning application for your house and these may contain drainage plans.

You have a right to see plans deposited for any planning application for your house.

However, Building Control documents are not public records and access is restricted to the owner.  If you wish to see documents produced by the Council, such as approval notices and Completion Certificates, these may be viewed on request as long as they are accompanied by proof of ownership.

Building Control documents are not public records and access is restricted to the owner.  The copyright remains with the architect/engineer who drew the original plans and in the first instance you will be referred to them.

Generally the design for foundations of a single storey building is the same as that for a two storey extension.  The important aspects include:

• depth to the bottom of the foundations above ground level
• depth of concrete in the foundations
• width of the foundation concrete
• location of the wall within the width of the foundation and
• probably even more important, the nature of the ground under the foundation

Unless the original foundations were laid within the last two or three years, it is advisable to expose the existing foundation in one or two locations so that the above aspects can be assessed by a structural engineer or the Building Control Surveyor before planning a first floor extension on an existing single storey part of the building.

Other important aspects to consider are:

• suitability of existing roof structure to act as a floor
• suitability of existing lintels over ground floor openings and
• suitability of existing walls.

Boundary disputes are a private matter between neighbours, the Council cannot be party to any such disputes, unless of course they are the landowners involved.  Neither the planning consent nor the Building Regulation approval confers a right to build over a boundary onto neighbours land.

Such disputes are best resolved, initially by consultation and if necessary negotiation.  If necessary both parties can agree to go to arbitration.  You may also care to try the Citizens Advice Bureau.  Parties may have to resort to solicitors advice and even formal legal action.

The Council cannot give you any information about the location of boundaries.  Some information may be available from the Land Registry about the approximate size of a particular plot but they are not able to confirm the exact location of boundary lines.

You should plan work so that foundations, walls, roofs eaves and gutters do not encroach over boundaries except when this is done by negotiation.  Remember that an informal agreement between you and your present neighbour may not be enforceable on any future neighbour.  Ensure that you get negotiated agreements properly and formally agreed and any necessary changes made to deeds.

The Building Regulations generally lay down performance requirements in relation to various aspects of building work.

The Approved Documents, in simple terms, set out the ways in which you can ensure that you comply with the performance requirements of the Regulations.  You can use another way of complying but you will have to demonstrate to the Council how you will comply with the performance requirement of the Regulations.

When the Council has made all necessary inspections and is satisfied that the works you have carried out comply with the Regulations it will issue a Completion Certificate.

If there are minor items outstanding a conditioned Completion Certificate will be issued at the Council's discretion.

If major issues remain outstanding it is possible that formal enforcement action will be taken.

When the works you have undertaken are substantially complete and you are required to notify us so that we can carry a completion inspection.  A Completion Certificate will be issued following a completion inspection.

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These are only available for works carried out after June 1996.

Unfortunately many people neglect to notify the Council that works are complete.  Therefore, no formal Completion Inspection is made, so no Completion Certificate is issued.  Often, in the final stages of selling a property, the absence of a Completion Certificate becomes an issue and we are requested to issue one quickly.  Given the inevitable delay organising a completion inspection, putting right any outstanding items and re-inspection of the works, a sale can be lost.

We will do all we can within reason to co-operate in these circumstances, but cannot issue a Completion Certificate on works that have not been subject to a completion inspection or where outstanding issues remain unresolved.

Not before you have obtained planning permission, if it is necessary.

48 hours after depositing all the information and the fee necessary for a Building Notice application.

You should avoid commencement of works until plans deposited under the Full Plans procedure have been approved.  If you choose to start works before a Full Plans application is approved, you have to understand that formal notices must be given and the work you do is done at your own risk until plans are approved.

Work which is exempt from building Control can be commenced once you have obtained any necessary planning consent.

Generally the deeds of your house will advise you of the fact.  Your solicitor will probably have advised you at the time of purchase.

Severn Trent Water have provided us with records showing the location of public sewers throughout the Borough.  You can view this information, free of charge, at the Civic Centre.

You will need the specific consent of Severn Trent Water to build over or within 3m of a public sewer.  If they are not happy for you to build over, they will refuse permission and instruct the Council to refuse the Building Regulation application.

When you deposit a Building Notice application or Full Plans application you are required to show the location of any public sewer on your land.

There are a number of statutory inspections from commencement, through damp proof courses and drains, to completion.  Usually other inspections are made at floor joist and roof level.  How many and how often he calls is very dependent on the size, type and nature of the project, however, as a general rule the above is a good guide.  Sometimes two or three inspections can be made at one call, ie drains, hardcore and dpc.

Clearly for internal alterations or rooms in the roof space a lot of these will not apply.

We endeavour to supply with an approval notice, or at commencement, an inspection profile for the particular job.

In all cases it is very important that you ensure that notice of commencement and completion is given, as well as all other statutory inspection stages where they apply.  A Completion Certificate may not be issued and enforcement may result if you cover up work without an inspection.

No.

For a particular Full Plans application the inspection charge becomes payable after the Building Control Surveyor has made the first inspection.  We will invoice you for the fee shortly after you start work.  The amount you pay was determined when you made the application based on the Charge Scheme criteria for the nature of the work involved.  This part of the total fee covers all inspections, however few or many.

If you made a Building Notice application, the total charge included the fee for all inspections, again however few or many.

No.  The Council cannot recommend any architect, surveyor or draughtsman.  You could contact the Royal Institute of British Architects or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.  Alternatively, your builder may have his own preferred plan smith or may indeed do the drawing work himself.  You could consider searching the Trade Register.

You may need planning consent, but for Building Regulation purposes a garden shed may be exempt.

If it is located at least 1m from any boundary of your property then it is exempt if it is:

• under 30m2 in internal floor area
• single storey and detached and
• contains no sleeping accommodation

If it is within 1m of your boundaries then it may still be exempt if it is, in addition to the above, constructed substantially of materials of limited combustibility.

If a shed is under 15m in internal floor area and contains no sleeping accommodation it is exempt.

On the sale of property much more attention is being paid now to what has been done to properties and whether Planning and Building Regulation consent has been obtained.  Often sight is required of a Completion Certificate.

If the work in question is unauthorised and was carried out after 11 November 1985, you can apply for a Regularisation Certificate.

No.  The Council cannot recommend any builder.  You can look through Yellow Pages or a local directory to obtain quotes for the work.  You should obtain a number of quotations for your work and seek the services of a private surveyor to advise you on the suitability of a particular quote.  The person who draws your plans may offer this service.  You could consider searching the Trade Register.

A business can be given a rating from 0 up to 5 following a visit by an officer.  This is based on how well the business is meeting the requirements of food hygiene law.  In particular:-

• How hygienically the food is handled - safe food preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage.
• How the condition of the structure of the premises and the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities.
• How the business managers what it does to make sure food is safe and so that the officer can be confident standards will be maintained in the future.

It is important to remember, the hygiene rating does not reflect the quality of food or the standards of service the business provides.

You can look up food hygiene ratings on the Food Standards Agency website.

Businesses are also given a window sticker showing their ratings and are encouraged to display these at their premises in places where you can easily see them when you visit.  Display is voluntary at the moment.

You can now find out what food hygiene rating your local food business has been awarded from your mobile phone....just seach 'food standards agency' and download the FREE hygiene ratings app.

To register a food business please follow this link.

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What food complaints do the Food Safety Team will deal with?

The Food Safety Team will deal with complaints that pose a public health risk.

Please note the Food & Safety Team will not get involved in any compensation claims. Compensation claims are a civil matter that you must take up with the manufacturer and, if necessary, through the courts. The team will deal with:

• food that is not safe to eat or actually makes you ill
• food that is so contaminated that it could not reasonably be eaten (such as a mouldy pie)
• food that contains a foreign object (such as a fragment of glass in a loaf of bread)
• chemical contamination of food and improper use of additives

The following complaints are dealt with by our colleagues in the Trading Standards Department at Staffordshire Council who can be contacted at  https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ or tel 03454 04 05 06

• composition of food (such as sausages containing less than the minimum percentage of meat)

• adulteration of foods
• labelling offences and misleading claims
• quality and nature of food (such as pollock being sold as cod)

 For relatively minor problems it is best to complain directly to the company that sold you the food. Instances where it is appropriate to contact the shop or supplier directly include:

• if you are not fully satisfied with the product and you just want your money back (most large supermarket chains have an efficient quality control and complaints procedure to enable customers to return an unsatisfactory food complaint and obtain a refund - supermarkets log these complaints and refer them to their suppliers, who can then identify trends, resulting in remedial action
• if the complaint is not of a serious nature (such as a part of a pea pod in a can of peas, or a ‘flat’ carbonated drink)

For more examples of comon food complaints see our Common Food Complaints Leaflet below, or alternatively you can contact a member of our Food Safety team on 01543 464491 or email environmentalhealth@cannockchasedc.gov.uk

Food poisoning is an illness caused by eating or drinking food that has been contaminated by germs.

The usual symptoms are diarrhoea, sickness and stomach-ache, sometimes accompanied by headache, tiredness and a high temperature. Food poisoning bacteria take quite a long time to reproduce inside the human gut and some people are more resistant than others so it may be some time before there are enough bacteria to cause illness. Do not therefore assume that food poisoning is a result of the last meal you ate - it can take two or even three or more, days before symptoms show.

More information can be found in our advice leaflet, or you can contact the Food Safety Team on 01543 464491 or email environmentalhealth@cannockchasedc.gov.uk

Take details of when, where, what you ate, the symptoms you have had and contact the Food Safety Team on 01543 462621 or email environmentalhealth@cannockchasedc.gov.uk