Dear Mr Whelan,

Thank you for your email of 12 August 2022 to Ards and North Down Borough Council.

To ensure your request for information is processed accurately we require you to clarify what you mean by complaints relating to residential planning applications. Are you referring to complaints regarding how a residential planning application has been processed? Or are you referring to objections received in relation to residential planning applications?

We will process your request when we receive your clarification.

Thank you for your time and we look forward to hearing from you with clarification.

Regards,

FOI Team
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Town Hall
The Castle
Bangor
BT20 4BT

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Dear Mr Whelan,

Thank you for your clarification email of 13 August 2022 to Ards and North Down Borough Council, received on 15 August.

We confirm your request in relation complaints received by the Council regarding how residential planning applications have been dealt with will be processed as a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Accordingly, you will receive the information you have requested within 20 working days of the date of receipt of your request by the Council unless the Council does not hold the information or there is a reason to withhold all or part of the information requested. The Council will write to you in any event.

For further information in relation to the Freedom of Information Act we would refer you to the Information Commissioner's Office website, www.ico.org.uk

If you wish to discuss the above, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

FOI Team
Ards and North Down Borough Council
Town Hall
The Castle
Bangor
BT20 4BT
Tel: 0300 013 3333

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Dear Mr Whelan,

We refer to the above matter and write further to our acknowledgement
email of 15^th August 2022.

Your request has been processed in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and please see Ards and North Down Borough Council’s
response below.

Please can you provide information on the following:

 1. Since 1st January 2020 how many complaints have been received by the
Planning Office relating to residential planning applications?
[Clarification - The information that I am seeking is in relation to
complaints received by ANDBC regarding how residential planning
applications have been processed, delays in processing, poor service
received etc.] 27

 2. Please provide a breakdown of the reasons for complaints.

Nature of Complaint(s) Explanation
Delays in processing times • Increase in householder
applications as result of pandemic
adding to backlog;
• Social distancing measures in
place by Council in respect of
number of officers who could be in
office – impacted on processing
times particularly in respect of
admin functions;
• Change in personnel within office
and timeliness of backfilling of
posts;
• Timeliness of statutory consultee
responses and additional
requirements raised via responses
• Change in policy context since
previous approval – additional
information required to satisfy
DFI Rivers - added to processing
time
• Application called in by elected
member to Planning Committee
meeting at request of objector –
adds to timeframe
• Not validated for two weeks –
caused by social distancing
measures – but unacceptable
behaviour – addressed with staff
and wider team
• Agent wouldn’t address statutory
consultee concerns – given number
of weeks to supply revised plans
• Receipt of legal advice on basis
of submitted objections –
requiring further consultation
with statutory consultee in
context of legal advice
• Submission of information sent to
email of officer not in work. Line
manager had to request
resubmission to carry out
consultations

 
Complaints regarding approval of • All material considerations dealt
development beside their homes with in Case Officer Report
• Previous approvals on site are
material consideration;
• Can’t take account of non-material
objections;
• Complainant was neighbour notified
but didn’t look up proposal on
Portal – was different from what
their neighbour had advised. 
Council carried out legislative
requirement
• Refusal of permission by Planning
Appeals Commission 20 years ago
was decision in different
development plan/policy context
Disagreement with Planning Service • Required to make scheme policy
regarding need for further compliant otherwise be a refusal
amendments
Lack of neighbour notification • Address point not recorded on
system as dwelling only just
constructed – should have been
reviewed by case officer whilst on
site – reminder issued to all
staff to check on site and not to
rely on data on Portal map base
• Administrative error – issued to
incorrect address – highlighted to
staff
Readvertisement of application • Need to comply with case law to
resulting in further objections ensure any decision is robust to
stand up to any judicial review
regarding process
Lack of call back to an objector • Apologised for lack of call back
during pandemic when not everyone
able to be in office – but able to
demonstrate email trail providing
information requested
Inaccuracies in Case Officer Report • Accepted – incorrect Case Officer
and Google Streetview maps used out Report uploaded to Portal;
of date unacceptable to use Google
Streetview maps instead of own
up-to-date photos (considered to
be off poor quality) – addressed
with officer and then wider staff
– unacceptable to rely on
Streetview images

 3. In relation to the complaints, how were they resolved?  See second
column of above table.

 4. What disciplinary action has been taken against staff cited in the
complaints?  At date of request no formal disciplinary action taken.
Matters dealt with by senior staff with responsible officers (and Line
Manager where appropriate) and learning communicated to rest of staff
on regular basis.

Should you require clarification on any part of this response, please do
not hesitate to contact us.

We trust this is of assistance. However, should you be unhappy with the
response you may request an Internal Review by contacting
[1][Ards and North Down Borough Council request email]. Please note that requests for Internal
Reviews must be submitted within two months from the date of this
response. Further information on the Internal Review process is available
on the Council’s website.  In the event you are unhappy with the outcome
of any Internal Review conducted by Council you may apply to the
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for a review of our response.
Please note that the ICO generally expects Internal Reviews to be
completed prior to reviewing the decisions of public bodies.

Regards,

FOI Team

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Town Hall

The Castle

Bangor

BT20 4BT

Tel: 0300 013 3333

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