Argyll and Bute Council's Building Standards section has consistently exceeded its targets regarding public response times.

A report to committee which highlighted its latest returns showed that between October and December 2009: 93.57% of requests for a building warrant were responded to within 20 days (against a target of 80%) and 97.12% of completion certificates were issued/accepted (or otherwise determined) within three days (against a target of 80%)

During 2009, the department adopted a variety of measures to enable it to gauge customer satisfaction, including issuing a Customer Service Questionnaire with each Warrant Approval and Completion Certificate Acceptance.

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The returns show that some 90% of respondents thought the manner in which their enquiry/application was received, the time taken to deal with it, the level and quality of information and advice provided and the attitude of the case officer they dealt with were all either 'good' or 'excellent'.

A similar percentage thought the overall service was either 'good' or 'excellent'.

Councillor Daniel Kelly, Chair of the Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee, said he was delighted by the feedback.

"This report highlights several very positive statistics in terms of both performance and customer satisfaction," he added.

"We are determined to ensure that the Argyll and Bute public receives Best Value service delivery, and this is an example of an area in which we seem to be excelling.

"I look forward to our Building Standards function continuing to go from strength to strength in the future."

(GK/BMcC)