People appear afraid to make complaints to the Planning Department for fear of retribution, according to Ombudsman Arlene Brock’s annual report.Ms Brock said the Department faces a serious challenge showing it has a culture of welcoming complaints as she provided an update on her long-running assessment of its dealings with the public.One man complained he had to wait five months for approval of a planning application, and seven months for a building permit approval, said the Ombudsman.She continued: “During this period there were long periods when Planning did not respond to his queries.“He claimed that such delays are commonplace and that Planning should provide responses in a more timely manner.”Ms Brock said Planning has made improvements since her scathing report of 2008, but she said of this complaint: “Planning acknowledged that, even with a significant backlog in the Department, it took too long to respond to the applicant’s queries. Further their letter requesting revisions was not as clear as it could have been.“We found that Planning’s delay in responding to the applicant’s queries were unreasonable and amounted to maladministration. But we made no recommendations as approval for the two applications had been granted.”She added: “The applicant highlighted an issue that we heard before: applicants feel reluctant to complain for fear of retaliation against current and future projects.“We have no factual evidence to substantiate the fear of retribution. Clearly, however, it will be a long-term challenge for Planning (and other government departments) to convince the public that there is a culture of welcoming complaints.”In her report four years ago, Ms Brock accused the Department of keeping the public in the dark over its decision-making.She said she received more complaints about Planning than any other government branch yet, when she quizzed the Department on its mistakes, it responded by denying or justifying errors — and on one occasion wrongly pinned the blame on junior staff.The Ombudsman said she even faced difficulties getting the Department to respond to her own inquiries about complaints from the public.Planning has since reviewed its operations in an effort to improve customer service.