Overview
The complainant (Mr C) purchased a detached unlisted house (the House) in a conservation area in September 2003 and engaged in pre-planning application discussion with the City of Edinburgh Council (the Council). The Council advised that, in principle, his proposal to demolish the House was acceptable. Mr C informed his neighbours of his intention to seek the relevant planning consents. They in turn suggested to Historic Scotland that the House should be listed. The planning applications were submitted. The Council issued a Building Preservation Notice (BPN) on 16 June 2004 and Historic Scotland responded by issuing a Category B listing on 30 June 2004. Mr C decided to withdraw his applications prior to them being considered by the planning committee.
Specific complaints and conclusions
The complaints which have been investigated are that:
- entry was made to Mr C's property by an officer of Historic Scotland without requisite consent (upheld);
- Historic Scotland knowingly gave misleading, inaccurate and out of date information to the Council (upheld to the extent that Historic Scotland gave misleading and inaccurate information about what they had decided);
- Historic Scotland colluded with the Council to enable the listing of his home (not upheld);
- Historic Scotland failed to establish or follow correct procedures by listing the building immediately following service of the BPN (not upheld);
- Historic Scotland were inept and incompetent in their production of the listing description of the property (upheld);
- an officer from Historic Scotland who appeared on a national radio programme misled the listening public (no finding);
- Historic Scotland neglected to inform Mr C, in their letter of 7 December 2004, of his rights and entitlement to come to the Ombudsman (not upheld);
- the pre-planning application advice given to him by the Council was faulty (not upheld);
- the Council's procedures in validating his planning application were faulty (not upheld);
- the Council's planning officer's report to committee on the BPN was misleading, incomplete and biased (not upheld); and
- the Council colluded with Historic Scotland (not upheld).
Redress and recommendations
The Ombudsman recommends that Historic Scotland apologise to Mr C for the failings identified in the report. She commends Historic Scotland for changes they have made to their procedures for deciding on listing, but recommends that Historic Scotland review the events considered in this report and consider whether they should take further steps to ensure that their decision making and communication processes are clear.
Historic Scotland have accepted the recommendations and will act on them accordingly.
The Ombudsman has no recommendations in respect of the Council.