The Department of Planning has come under fire for keeping the public in the dark over its decision-making, in a hard-hitting report from Ombudsman Arlene Brock.

When Ms Brock quizzed the department on its mistakes, it responded by denying or justifying errors and on one occasion wrongly pinning the blame on junior staff.

In her annual report for 2007, the Ombudsman said she even faced difficulties getting the department to respond to her own inquiries into complaints from the public.

Similarly, this newspaper received no response from Planning when it asked for a comment for this story yesterday.

Ms Brock has made a string of recommendations aimed at improving transparency and stamping out procedures which lead to perceptions of unfairness.

It comes as The Royal Gazette continues its A Right To Know: Giving People Power campaign, which calls for Premier Ewart Brown to increase openness in Government and public bodies by restoring public access to information (PATI) legislation to the top of the Progressive Labour Party's agenda.

Ms Brock's report revealed that, just like in 2006, the Planning Department attracted more Ombudsman complaints than any other Government branch.

In her report for 2006, Ms Brock said the department's problems were a result of staffing shortages.

She states in the 2007 version: "This problem remained true also during our second year ... However, some of the challenges that we experienced with the department cannot be attributed to staffing shortages alone.

"We could well understand public complaints that their telephone calls, letters, even communications from lawyers, went unanswered, as we also often chased the department for responses to our own inquiries.

"No human being or organisation is perfect. In the highly technical and arcane world of planning, there will inevitably be some errors.

"I was more concerned about what seemed to be a consistent reluctance on the part of the department to seek reasonable resolutions that serve the public. Rather, the default reaction to our inquiries was to deny mistakes, justify or, in one instance, unfairly blame junior staff."

Ms Brock commends the department on its "excellent new website", saying she hopes the new electronic complaint system will promote a public service-oriented culture.

However, she encourages the department to study and embrace the Principles of Good Administration produced by the UK Parliamentary Commission last year.

The Commission's recommendations to public bodies regarding transparency include:

• be open and clear about policies and procedures and ensure information and any advice provided is clear, accurate and complete

• state criteria for decision-making and give reasons for decisions

• handle information properly and appropriately

• keep proper and appropriate records

• acknowledge mistakes and apologise where appropriate

• provide clear and timely information on how and when to appeal or complain.

The most recently available figures show the average waiting time for the Department of Planning to process a planning application increased from 13.1 weeks in 2004 to 15.3 in 2006.

Alex DeCouto, president of the Construction Association of Bermuda and Julia van Beelen, president of the Institute of Bermuda Architects, have both previously spoken about difficulties experienced by their members due to the slowness of planning applications and building permits being approved.

The 13 Planning Department complaints Ms Brock dealt with in 2007 fell mainly into the following categories: inefficient, unreasonable delay, contrary to law, unfair/oppressive, arbitrary, negligent/unresponsive.

A Right To Know is continuing despite the absence of PATI in last Friday's Throne Speech. We have asked Dr. Brown when we can expect to see freedom of information legislation in Bermuda, but been told by his Press Secretary there is nothing more to add.

Yesterday, this newspaper asked the Department of Planning whether Ms Brock's comments were fair, and whether it intended to do anything to improve transparency. We received no response.

• We are still looking for your views on PATI and examples of information you have tried to get — successfully or unsuccessfully. What are your own experiences of the Planning Department? E-mail us at arighttoknow@royalgazette.bm or call 278-0155 or 278-8359.