Essex County Council Reviews 34

With Chelmsford council I had a meeting with them on the 23rd of February 2026 to see if I can move into their city and move there and the women ask me all questions like

Why do you want to move in this City

I told the woman called Kirsten Marriott from the
Homeless Officer

I want to move there because it's near my brother James who lives in South End on Sea and I am us to working in a city called Cambridge loooong time go for 2 years

Then she said to me on the phone

If we cannot get you in are city we will pass you onto South End

And when I had an email from her saying I'm not allowed to move there as I have no family there & she just passed me onto Saffron Walden council that is a town and where my parents live in the village in Great Chesterford Saffron Walden and the woman just paassed me onto that Council of Uttlesford District Council.
And she had never tried to get me into South End On Sea knowing I have a birth brother who is adopted into a different family who lives down there and she just didn't even try to get me into South End On Sea and just passed me onto Uttlesford District Council where I do not want to leave as they only do town and villages plus I am gay and towns and villages they do not have anything for gays thing as thy do NOT have Gay clubs clube and I won't find my mr right and settle down but I. Cannot do that in a village or a town and plus I am more comfortable in a city but I am ACTUALLY FUMING ANGRY ! with the woman who lied to me and didn't try to help as she's was so unhealthful and der I do not like living in a village or town as thy not me at all because I'll be living with my parents since February last year 2025 and in the village there's nothing to do no for gays as there is NO gay pubs or clubs there plus there is 100`s of school kids that lives in the village and they don't even go out and play out as there is there's nothing for them to do. And I want gay happy life and in city where I feel more me and feel more comfortable in so over all the council in Chelmsford are just loseless and unhelpful and thy do NOT care about you "it seem like" { if I born straight I would still move to city } Plus it seen like thy do not care about your happiness and life as tey only care about themselves and making people have sad life.

Absolute CHARLATANS increased council tax,roads are riven with potholes.
Every reason not to do anything called obfuscation
Feel like we are just paying for their pension and getting Zero in return

Where do I start with this incompetent & uncaring organisation? They refuse to give me a bus pass despite me having numerous health problems and difficulty getting around and having to use a walking stick to mobilise otherwise I can't walk. The staff are arrogant and uncaring when you raise concerns with them. And don't get me started on the state of the roads & pavements which are comparable with Swiss cheese given the amount of pot holes in them...

Keep the street lights on stop turning them off at 12am 1am off for your benefit dangerous and can't see , had enough of you 😡✊

Brentwood council has stopped chucking residents complaints in the bin & seem to have a fair complaint procedure in place theirs just one catch any complaints they don’t want to deal with they block because if they block your complaint they then can say they didn’t receive it therefore it’s not their fault they didn’t address the issue!

After a very encouraging triage, I was phoned by a social worker, who clearly hadn't read the notes. This was frustrating and rendered the call useless. I then complained to her line manager, whose name deserves to be outed. She was stern, nasty in tone & maliciously brought up a mental health diagnosis, which I've no idea how they knew of. Their parameters for "help" are extremely narrow & then they merely refer you to two charities that are then obviously overwhelmed. They are taking a considerable high wage for doing absolutely nothing for residents in need. Shut them down.

With regard to social services, and keeping an older person safe, I live with a worry about an individual who, at 85, with reduced mobility and almost zero eyesight, is left to live alone. It doesn't matter that their family calls in. Confusion and memory loss is demonstrated in any conversation with this person. An accident will happen either inside the house or out in Halstead town.

Contacted Essex CC Highways on behalf of elderly, disabled mother and other retired, disabled residents about faulty street light on public footpath in Brentwood, Essex. Originally installed by Essex CC and previously maintained by Essex CC. In spite of this, Essex CC highways keep pretending street light on private land. Their failure to maintain this street light, which keeps going out at night-time, is causing very real consternation for local residents, particularly elderly ones. Nearby garages were previously burgled, as were 2 houses in this road, one resided in by an elderly widow.
Essex CC Highways need to abide by their legal duty of care towards street furniture on a public footpath. If Highways continue to play games by shirking their legal responsibility, then they can expect a formal complaint to be made to the Local Government Ombudsman.
Essex CC Highways also keep dimming street lights at night-time, again causing worry for elderly residents, due to fear of falling given disrepair of public foot and roadways and opportunity darkness affords criminals.
A very sorry state of affairs on the part of Essex CC Highways. They need to get their act together.
Update: Essex CC Highways have to date failed to respond to SAR requests. 28 days to do so have now expired. I will be reporteding essex CC Highways to ICO.

Essex county council are just not fit to run a piss up in a brewery.. let alone a whole county. The people at the top are simply people who should be sweeping the roads not in charge of making decisions within our county. Waste sites not taking waste when you turn up, street signs that can’t be read at night because of the dirt on them from not being cleaned for years. pot holes in the roads that damage our cars and then they have they say its not down to them. waste in the side of the roads that have not seen a road sweeper in years and foot paths that are simply not safe to walk on. these people at the top need to be removed and new people fit to make good decisions and how to spend their budgets with out giving themselves high wages and bonuses that should never be paid.

NOT WORTH 1 star but had to put it total embarrassment we have been waiting for our blue badge for 3 months meanwhile my mother has suffered DISGRACEFUL

I have my doubts that Essex Highways (part of Essex County Council) are still fit for purpose. A 6 foot street pole with signage rusted away at the base and fell over on the local pavement. It could have hit someone. The public moved it to the side of the pavement. I contacted Essex Highways about removing the street pole in early September. They told me in early October that they were not going to do anything. I complained in mid October about the safety issues (it rusting away in the first place and leaving a 6 foot pole on the pavement edge). Again I was told it was not a priority. So here we are coming to the end of November and the street pole is still laying there in the street. I just wonder what happens if a street light falls over or a larger sign gets blown down in a storm. Do Essex Highways expect the public to clear it up and get rid of it?

Amazing , First of all VERY nice county to live in , This council is advanced especially in cleanliness , IDK why people underestimate it !

I feel that I must write a review on the disgusting state of our roads in Maldon.
Just what the hell is going on, with our money being wasted on just filling great big large crevices or even largest holes all over the place ..in particular Lime Brook Way Maldon bye pass...when driving along this road one has to literally weave around the carriage way to avoid disappearing down one of the very large cracks along the whole length of Limebrook Way..the county every year waste our money on bodging ... Is there no body in the highways that has realised that this is not working..as a hint , dig the road up add new foundations before relaying the road surface. It just may save the tax payers money in the long run
It will also stop the road from being shut whilst the bodging takes place ...If a jobs worth doing do it well !!

Disgraceful customer service. Have been trying to re-register my child's birth certificate for over a year now. Was given all the information on what to do, did it, and received no response. We chased and chased them, kept telling us they were back logged so we just needed to be patient. 4-5 months later finally get told that we sent it to the wrong place, even though that is where we were specifically said. Re-sent it. Still no response. Been chasing ever since and nothing. Always on hold for ridiculous amounts of time that I don't have to just sit around waiting. The last person I finally got through to after 2.5 hours in the queue, told me she couldn't help me and transferred me before even letting me finish. Waited another hour before they hung up on me. Absolutely fuming, I sent more emails with urgency, waited the appropriate time frame which is 4-8 weeks and still nothing. Finally got through to them today after another hours wait, only to tell me it's the correct form and I sent it to the correct place but they don't have it. I need to re-send it and will be another 4-8 weeks before I get a response and then maybe longer for an actual appointment. By that time, I would've been chasing them for over 18 months which is absolutely disgusting. But my goodness, weren't they ever so quick to help us get married. Now they couldn't give a toss because they're not getting £600 or whatever out of us. Other councils aren't this bad.

I am the only council property in my close that does not have a dropped kerb and driveway and the road gets really busy so sometimes when we come home can’t park outside or sometimes not even in my road when my wife was diagnosed with cancer we went through all the proper channels.
We asked Brentwood council for help nothing
We went to outside agency for help nothing
We have a blue badge and was medically assessed saying that we needed a parking space Sent all paperwork off to Brentwood council they said sadly no because we don’t fit the criteria, it will cost between £6000 to £8000 thousand pounds if I wanted to pay for it myself through the council, unfortunately I can’t afford that we even said we would help with some of or half of the costs. Sorry no we can’t help you.
What a heartless bunch of people it’s not like we are breaking the bank.
All we want was a bit of help, I pay my rent,council tax, not in arrears and for 2years
Council never done any repairs through covid so must have saved few bob
There just nasty

reported to essex highways about a contract on our local road 3 months ago to resurface and replace speed bumps.
I told them that the contractor had A .left signage regarding the road closure behind and it was now almost obscured by the grass growing up around it and B.that the work to replace the speed bumps was done so poorly that small pot holes were appearing within days of completion.I pointed out that it was quite clear that some of the bumps had not been finished off correctly.?
This is the reply I recieved some days later

Reference Number: 2923825 Current status: inspection outcome
We have investigated and risk-assessed this issue. Our recent investigation of this issue has concluded that it is not as serious as many other issues we are aware of, so we won't be taking any further action on it. This does not mean that this report is not important to us. There is no need to report this issue again
The abandoned road work sign is still there?

Completely useless management and CEO Heidi Mottram who hide behind their front line call complaint operators. I wouldn't employ them to run my bath let alone a public company that I am paying for that fails to follow up on any issues that long suffering tax payers are having. Blocked drains, flooding and 6 inch holes in our pavements and nothing done for years not weeks or months. What a shower! Are you proud of the reviews you receive here

Got a fixed penalty notice from Essex county council £70.
Even though the traffic was diverted a different way due to maintenance or cable lane. I have since paid to find no point challenging it has Essex county council has their own rules.

The licence to print money.

It's a shame they don't maintain the road I had a damaged tyre on my car cost me over £100 pound field forms out submitted to them and they turn around and said they have done a risk assessment there is no need to pay out to me but since the holes have been filled in now so that doesn't make sense.

If it was dangerous they would not feel it in.

Shame on you lots in Essex county council have nothing better to do and fix penalty notices.

😡😡😡😡😡.
No stars if possible

I am very shocked and disappointed with the homes for Ukraine essex Council. I have hosted a family from Ukraine for over 8 months but I have never received a single thank you payment. I have been writing emails back and forth with confusing response. When, I emailed
asking them, why ever since the family arrived no one has been to check on them, they sent a social worker- which was shocking. When I asked about the thank you payment, I was informed that they were still awaiting for the council to approve my home - the hosts are already with me. One of the criteria, for my hosts to get an approval for a visa was that my accommodation had to be appropriate for them and had to be approved by the council. No one came to support them, show them the right direction ie schools for children, gp, dentists, jobs etc. I had to spend alot of time supporting them. I don't know whether it has only happened to this family or every family, please comment. T

The title says it all. Brentwood Council is hopeless, no concern for the welfare of residents. My experience is just awful, try to question their actions and they close ranks to cover for each other. The date below was the start and it is still ongoing. Disgusting