MEMBERS of tonight's full council meeting in Nelson will decide what action they will take in response to an Ombudsman report which found Pendle Council guilty of maladministration.

The report relates to a complaint made against the council about a planning and environmental health enforcement issue at a former railway goods yard in Brierfield.

It stated that the council did not act quickly enough or fully enough in investigating complaints from a neighbour, whose house adjoins the site, regarding alleged out-of-hours activities and smoke and noise nuisances at the premises.

Local government ombudsman, Patricia Thomas, recommended that the council should give further consideration to the complaints, including consultation with residents and site operator, and pay the complainant £250 which she said was 'not as compensation for disturbance but for the sense of frustration he has experienced and for his time and trouble in making the complaint to me'.

Members of the council will consider the report at the meeting tonight and decide what action they will take.

The complaints were made to the council over many years, dating back to 1987, but after a new series of complaints the matter was brought back to the attention of the Brierfield and Reedley area committee in January last year.

A private investigator, hired by the council after the local ombudsman was contacted, said there was not a statutory noise nuisance.

But the ombudsman said there had been a number of times in which the council's consideration had fallen short of what was acceptable.

These included the failure to monitor the yard, the failure to implement the area committee's resolution to consult with all those involved, the failure to refer the issue back to the committee after the decision to defer consideration and the failure to properly record visits to monitor possible statutory noise nuisance and record complaints in any systematic way.