Planning Enforcement Charter
Contents
- Introduction
- What is a breach of planning control?
- What is not a breach of planning control?
- Time limits
- How to report a breach of planning control
- Anonymous enquiries and confidentiality
- Breaches that are high impact and low impact in planning terms
- Investigating a possible breach of planning control
- Acting on breaches of planning control
- Our service standards
- Making a suggestion or complaint about planning enforcement
Making a suggestion or complaint about planning enforcement
We hope you will be satisfied with our planning enforcement service.
If you have any suggestions, concerns or difficulties, we want to hear from you. We are committed to improving our service and dealing promptly with any failures.
We will consider all complaints made about the way an enforcement enquiry was dealt with. Some people may disagree with the outcome of an investigation but, of itself, that is not grounds for complaint. As noted previously there is a separate appeals procedure for a recipient of an enforcement notice.
In the first instance, any concerns regarding the enforcement service should be discussed with the member of staff involved in the investigation. If you are still not satisfied, talk to their line manager.
If you are not happy with their response you may submit a formal complaint using our complaints procedure. This procedure has two stages. The first stage is frontline resolution which aims to resolve complaints within five working days. Stage two complaints require further investigation, and we aim to respond to these within 20 working days. Formal complaints may be made online or in writing.
Lastly, if having made a formal complaint about service provided by us and you remain dissatisfied with the council's handling of your complaint, having exhausted the council’s complaint procedure, you have the right to take your complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).
- SPSO telephone: 0800 377 7330
- SPSO email: ask@spso.org.uk
Generally, you must contact the Ombudsman within 12 months.
Appeals procedure
There are four stages in the appeals procedure. If the outcome of one stage is not satisfying, move to the next one:
- Discuss with the member of the staff involved in the investigation.
- Speak to their manager.
- Submit a formal complaint.
- Contact the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO)
