LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to process his planning application properly, causing delay, distress and financial loss. We found the Council to be at fault because there were avoidable errors in the planning consent that meant another application had to be made. To remedy the injustice to Mr X, the Council has agreed to apologise, refund the fee for the second application and make a symbolic payment in recognition Mr X’s distress and frustration.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about Council tax arrears. We are satisfied with the action the Council has proposed to take. Other parts of the complaint are late.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about street cleanliness because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to change her effective date after she refused an offer of a property through its housing register. The decision was in line with its published allocations scheme and there is insufficient evidence of fault in its decision-making to justify our involvement.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to investigate the actions of a former employee. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

Summary: We found fault by the Council on Mr Y’s complaint about it failing to take prompt action against the owner of the building his rented flat was in which suffered serious damp and mould from leaks. It failed to carry out an assessment under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, and issue an Improvement Notice, sooner than it could have done. There was other delay. It failed to keep him properly informed about its enforcement investigation. The Council agreed to send a written apology, pay £250 for the injustice caused, remind relevant officers dealing with this type of case to ke

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about events that led to him being banned from a leisure centre. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council wrongly pursued him for unpaid parking fines. This is because there is no significant injustice to warrant an investigation and further investigation would not achieve anything more.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with planning applications. This is because part of the complaint is late. It is unlikely we would find fault in relation to the remaining issues complained about.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not progressing Mr X’s application for a Tree Preservation Order. This is because the Council has agreed to conduct a new assessment of the trees and this provides a suitable remedy for Mr X.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the decision to grant planning permission for a new development near the complainant’s home. This decision was made by the Planning Inspectorate, which is not a body within our jurisdiction.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to Mrs X’s complaints about anti-social behaviour. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to result in a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint the Council failed to take enforce breach of planning conditions. Part of the complaint is late, and the Council has since taken enforcement action. Therefore, there is nothing worthwhile to be achieved through further investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council discriminating against him due to his disability when he tried to appeal a penalty charge notice by failing to make reasonable adjustments. This is because an investigation would not lead to any further worthwhile outcomes as the Council has already provided an appropriate remedy for the fault accepted.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to apply its own parking standards when it approved a planning application in 2018. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the delays in dealing with a planning application. We do not consider the complainant has suffered enough personal injustice to warrant an investigation. Also we cannot achieve the outcome sought.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to take formal action regarding the condition of his neighbour’s land. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the administration of a postal vote as this matter is not within our legal remit. Mr X’s concerns about data protection are best dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office. We will not investigate the Council's complaint handling as in isolation this does not cause Mr X a level of injustice that would warrant our further involvement

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning application. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation by us.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a possible breach of planning control. This is because we are unlikely to find fault.

Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a development at a school near his home. There are parts of the complaint we have not investigated because too much time has passed. For the remaining parts we find no fault in the Council’s actions or decision making.

Summary: Miss X complained about the way the Council dealt with her housing register and homelessness applications. We did not find fault with how it made a decision on her living situation. We found the Council at fault for not issuing a written decision notice when it decided she was not homeless or threatened with homelessness. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

Summary: Mr X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect his food waste bin and failed to replace the bin when it was removed. The Council failed to investigate the reason for the missed collections, failed to ensure the process it had introduced to manage missed collections was in place and delayed replacing Mr X’s food waste bin. An apology, payment to Mr X, replacement of the food waste bin and further monitoring of his bin collections is satisfactory remedy.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a lack of action on the complainant’s reports of noise nuisance. The Council confirms it is still considering the reports of noise nuisance. We consider further investigation will not lead to a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her planning application. This is because Ms X had rights of appeal to the Planning Inspector which it would have been reasonable for her to use, and there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s request for further information in any event. If Ms X is unhappy with the Council’s handling of her information request it would have been reasonable for her to complain to the Information Commissioner.