Overview
The complainant (Ms C) complained on behalf of a local action group (the Action Group) about the way in which Renfrewshire Council (the Council) handled a planning application and granted permission for a security fence on part of a former Royal Ordnance Factory site (the ROF site).
Specific complaints and conclusions
The complaints which have been investigated are that:
- (a) planning permission was granted contrary to an undertaking given to the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Structure Plan Joint Committee and the Examination in Public (the EiP) (partially upheld, to the extent that the Council did not communicate clearly to the EiP their intentions with regard to the security fence application);
- (b) there was no need for a security fence (no finding);
- (c) the granting of planning permission prejudices the consideration of objections to the other applications pending (not upheld);
- (d) permission was granted, incorrectly, under delegated powers (not upheld);
- (e) the Council erred in accepting the application, which Ms C claimed should have had an accompanying environmental statement or information about contamination (not upheld); and
- (f) the Council's procedures for delegated powers were inadequate, in that the Director of Planning and Transport was not required to publish his delegated report in advance (not upheld).
Redress and recommendations
The Ombudsman recommends that the Council apologise to the Action Group that they did not communicate clearly to the EiP their intentions with regard to the security fence application.
The Council have accepted the recommendations and will act on them accordingly.