IT seems clear that an individual or group of individuals at Ribble Valley Council have made a big mistake that is going to cost the district's residents around £70,000.

But details of the planning decision that led to the council having to make a compensation payment to a resident whose property was adversely affected by it are very scarce.

That's for the simple reason that the council has kept them secret.

But the public have a right to know precisely how, when and why the costly planning decision was made - and who made it.

They also need to know if anyone has been taken to task or reprimanded because of the blunder.

The council's ruling group say that they have been dealing with matter in private, not to hide their embarrassment but to protect the privacy of the complainant.

That argument does have some merit but it is surely outweighed by the public's right to know on what basis such a large sum of their money is being paid out in compensation.

They need to be able to see and judge for themselves the seriousness of the mistake and its effects on the resident.

Freedom of information campaigner Bob Satchwell of the Society of Editors described the secrecy as "outrageous" and added, "When a council keeps issues like this secret it undermines the confidence of the public in local government."

He is quite right.