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Case ref:201609337
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Date:July 2018
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Body:South Lanarkshire Council
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Sector:Local Government
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Outcome:Some upheld, recommendations
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Subject:handling of application (complaints by opponents)
Summary
Mr C complained to the council about various matters related to the sale of public land to private individuals.
We found that the council's actions had been reasonable in relation to most of the complaints Mr C raised. However, we did uphold a complaint that the council had unreasonably failed to address the impact of proposed development on land designated as greenspace in a delegated report, but did not consider that this had any significant impact on the ultimate decision to grant the application.
We also upheld a complaint that the council had not responded reasonably to complaints raised in a particular email. We found that they did not address two specific points and did not discuss the need for an extended timescale with Mr C or provide him with a revised timescale for response.
Recommendations
What we said should change to put things right in future:
- All planning applications should be assessed against all relevant policies.
In relation to complaints handling, we recommended:
- Complaints responses should respond to all relevant concerns raised and, where an extension to complaint response timescales is necessary, discuss this with the complainant and provide them with a new timescale within which they can expect a response.
We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.