Charnwood Borough Council - Leading in Leicestershire

Who Gets Pests?

Every household suffers from pests sooner or later.
Modern, centrally heated homes can offer an especially inviting shelter during the cold winter months; open windows during the summer invite other pests to investigate possible food sources.
Quite often, it's the cleanest homes that are most at risk. Wherever we live, pests can be a year-round problem and are not restricted to rural or urban areas.
From insects to mammals, pests come in all shapes and sizes; some look unpleasant, most however are harmless.
However there are a few pests that can cause more than a nuisance and these should be dealt with because they can pose a risk to your health.
Many household nuisance pests can be dealt with by using humane traps and chemicals available in high street shops but sometimes it is advisable to call in the experts to solve a persistent problem.
We have a pest control section which specialises in getting rid of pests. Their expertise, and the control measures they use are not available in the shops.

• Report a Pest Control Problem

Rodents

The rodents that are recognised as particular pests in the UK are the house mouse, brown or sewer rat and the black or ship rat.
It is the brown rat that is widely distributed throughout the country with the black rat being mainly found around the port areas. Brown rats are responsible for the spread of numerous infectious agents, some of which can cause serious illness in humans.
Many other kinds of rodents are found in Britain but they are less likely to enter homes and rarely cause a problem; however, we will provide advice on all of them.

Insects

There are literally thousands of different insects in Britain, with only a few species being potentially harmful to health. These include cockroaches and bed-bugs.
Other insects which can cause a nuisance are wasps, ants, carpet and furniture beetles, and the many different varieties found in the garden. Very few insects deliberately enter our homes or businesses but when they do, our Pest Control Service is available to provide advice and treatments in many cases to eradicate them.

Pest Control Information Sheets

Click on the 'Pest Control Information Sheets' link below to access the information sheets that we have available for a variety of pests.

• Pest Control Information Sheets

Our Promise of Service

We aim to answer telephone calls direct to the Pest Control Service within 10 seconds and within 25 seconds if the call is made via the switchboard. If you write to us we will respond within 5 working days.
We have pledged to respond to requests for service as follows:
Rats in the home and request for treatment received by 9.30am, same day;
Rats in the home or public health insect pest, within 1 working day;
Mice in the home or rats outside premises, fleas, and general advice on most pest species, within 3 working days;
Wasps and other insect pests, within 5 working days.
These standards are reviewed annually and take into account feedback from our service users.

Performance

Between April 2007 and March 2008 we received 2,916 requests for service and carried out 5115 visits. We dealt with 98% of same day, 87% of 1 working day, 72% of 3 working day and 96% of our 5 working day response categories within the required time.

Value for Money

Much of the service we provide is free of charge i.e. the treatment of rats, mice, cockroaches and bed-bugs in all domestic premises. We do make a charge for the treatment of fleas and wasps and for all treatments carried out in commercial premises.
However if a householder is in receipt of any of the following benefits namely Income Support, Pension Credit, Job Seekers Allowance (income based), Housing Benefit, or Council Tax Benefit then any treatment will be free of charge.
Our charges are agreed and published annually and can be viewed below....

• Fees and charges 2008/2009 (PDF Document 41.71 Kb.)

  Environmental Health Service fees and charges for 2008/2009 including pest control fees

Customer Choice

Feedback from our customers is essential for assessing the quality of this service and provides useful indicators of successes or shortcomings in service delivery.
We invite comments on the quality of service provided through our pest control customer satisfaction survey.  If you wish to discuss or comment on our service or any information in this leaflet please do not hesitate to contact the Council on (01509) 634628.

Should you have cause to complain about us or our services then let us know so we can take action to put matters right.  Where you feel this has not happened we have a formal complaints procedure, which you may follow.  All reception points, enquiry centres have copies of the Complaints Procedure leaflet.

If you would like an explanation of this leaflet in your language or to obtain copies in Braille, on audio tape or large print please contact our Joint Service Shop.

Contact Details

• How to Contact Environmental Health