Overview
The complainant (Mr C) raised concerns that South Lanarkshire Council (the Council) had not given proper consideration to a planning application for a listed building, had not dealt with enquiries properly or satisfactorily, that an informative guide produced by the Council was deficient and that there were flaws in the Council's complaint handling processes.
Specific complaints and conclusions
The complaints which have been investigated are that:
- (a) the Council did not give proper consideration to the planning application (not upheld);
- (b) the Council did not deal with Mr C's enquiries properly or satisfactorily (not upheld);
- (c) the Council's publication 'A Guide to the Planning Decision-Making Process' was deficient (not upheld); and
- (d) the Council's complaints process was flawed (not upheld).
Redress and recommendations
The Ombudsman recommends that the Council apologise to Mr C for not responding appropriately to his point in letters of 19 March 2005, 28 March 2005 and 2 April 2005 advising that he had not received the promised letter of 11 March 2005.
The Council have accepted the recommendations and will act on them accordingly.