Development Management - customer charter and feedback
The customer charter (PDF 134KB) sets out the service standards that you can expect when you interact with Development Management. It also explains how to give feedback which helps to shape and improve our services as well as what to do if things go wrong and you wish to make a complaint.
We monitor our performance against our customer charter each year. The service standard performance indicators (PDF 105KB) provide the results of annually assessing our Customer Charter commitments.
Customer feedback
If you would like to make a compliment, comment or complaint please fill out our Have Your Say online form.
We analyse all feedback and comments. Your input is helping us to improve the services we provide to you. Thank you for helping us to directly improve the way we do things. Your suggestions have led to the following improvements:
| You said | We did |
| Response times can take too long | We noted that we have experienced resourcing issues during 2023 which has sometimes caused a delay in response times. We have focussed on the recruitment and training of new staff. Improvements in response times are expected in 2024. |
| Communication | We acknowledge the feedback on communication issues highlighted in the customer survey, and agree that delays have occurred during 2023. We have adopted some management tools to address the resourcing issues, with a move to encourage customers to self-serve using the portal to track the progress of planning applications during the 8-week assessment period. Information on the revised self-service process was communicated online and to our customers via a briefing note. We are developing a communication strategy which includes additional staff training. Improvements in communication are expected in 2024 due to better resourcing and additional training. |
| Replace PDF forms with online forms | Move to develop a number of PDF forms on our website to interactive online forms. |
| Website can be difficult to navigate and find information | The website will be reviewed in 2024 with Google Analytics provided to analyse how customers are accessing and utilising the website. Updated guidance on the pre-application process, including standing advice and the development of online forms, will be completed in 2024. |
| Validation guidance | Validation guidance is available on the website, however this will be reviewed in 2024. |
| Rural countryside development policy is difficult to interpret | Planning Advice PP2023-11: Development in the Countryside Policies R1 and R2 including Organic Growth of Settlements (PDF 12.3MB) is available to help with understanding rural countryside development. |
| Ongoing difficulties with submissions in the planning portal | We continue to raise issues relating to the portal with the Scottish Government, and also encourage our customers to raise any issues directly with the Scottish Government Portal Helpdesk. |