What does Thanet District Council (TDC) do?

Thanet District Council (sometimes shortened to TDC) is responsible for some aspects of our lives. Other issues are handled by Kent County Council (KCC).

As a district council, TDC is responsible for housing and licensing. This means that it approves planning applications and licensing requests (for example a license to sell alcohol or food). However TDC handles a number of other areas too.

The council consists of elected councillors who set policy and council officers who implement those policies. The council's phone number is 01843 577000.

Building Control

This includes things like building regulation compliance, dangerous structures, and other building regulation oversight.

• Building control services can be found here.
• You can call building control on 01843 577522

Car parks

TDC is responsible for maintaining a number of car parks (and setting the parking fees).

• You can find a map of the car parks managed by TDC here.
• The phone number for help with car parks is 01843 577471

Council Tax and Business Rates

Your council tax is collected by Thanet District Council along with business rates from shops and other businesses.

• Click here for the full range of TDC's council tax services.
• If you need to talk to the council about council tax you can call 01843 577073
• For Housing Benefit support click here.
• For Council Tax support click here.

Elections

TDC over sees elections for the area. You can register to vote on the council's website, as well as apply for postal or proxy voting. 

• You can find the full range of the district council's voting services here.
• For help and support with election services you can email electoral.services@thanet.gov.uk
• If you wish to tell us that you voted (and, optionally, how) you can do so here.

Environmental protection

This department of TDC is responsible for such things as air quality, smoke and bonfires, noise pollution, and other similar factors. 

• You can report dead wildlife for removal here.
• You can report noise nuisance here.
• The phone number for TDC's environmental protection is 01843 577082

Housing

Housing is a statutory responsibility of Thanet District Council.They provide both social housing as well as supports of various kinds with housing needs including support for rough sleepers, unsafe housing conditions, and affordable housing.

• Their homelessness and rough sleeper strategy guide was last updated 2020. You can read it here.
• For tenant and leaseholder services, click here.
• If you are worried about a rough sleeper or are one yourself, you may want this website.

Licensing

Thanet District Council handles all forms of business license. 

• For the full list click here.

Planning Applications

The district council is responsible for overseeing and approving planning applications - commonly called granting planning permission. Planning decisions must be made in accordance to the council's “local plan” (assuming they have one).

• You can search and comment on planning applications here.

Local Plan

It is the responsibility of the elected councillors to create and maintain a local plan. It is this plan (or its absence) that largely determines planning applications. The local plan sets the framework in which decisions on particular proposals are taken setting the tone by which applications are accepted or rejected. Without one, a council may find itself powerless to refuse applications.

Failure to maintain a local plan can allow developers to force through planning applications that may be detrimental to the area or not fit within the vision for Thanet's future. For example, in 2018, the UKIP led Thanet Council unfortunately failed to approve a local plan and were threatened with intervention by the Secretary of State. Without a local plan, the council was required to approve many more new houses by the statutory method for calculating housing need.

Thanet currently has a local plan adopted in 2020 and set to continue to 2031.

• You can read about the Thanet local plan here.   

Parks and playgrounds

Thanet District Council also takes care of a number of parks and playgrounds in Thanet

Port and Harbour of Ramsgate

Thanet District Council is tasked with overseeing the running of Ramsgate port and harbour.

• You can find more information here.

Public Conveniences (loos)

Thanet council operates public toilets. 

• A full list of toilets maintained by the council can be found here.

Street cleaning, waste, and recycling

Thanet District Council is responsible for collecting and removing rubbish, collecting recycling, and keeping the streets clean. This includes dealing with fly tipping (illegal dumping of rubbish), collecting bulky waste, and removing graffiti. While the council will do their best to tackle reported graffiti, There are some instances where they would not be the best people to contact. For example, vandalism of street lighting, illuminated bollards, and traffic signs are handled by KCC. 

• You can report fly tipping here.
• Report graffiti here.
• For problems with litter bins, dog bins, or recycling bins, you can use this form.
• For more information on the council's waste services click here.

Tourism

The council’s Tourism Team works with a large number of partner agencies to support Thanet’s £352 million visitor economy.