LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about artificial light nuisance. Some of the complaint is late, and for the part we could consider there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify us investigating.

Summary: Mr B complained that the Council delayed excessively in registering a planning application to regularise breaches of planning control on a site including Mr B’s property and had failed to take enforcement action over a number of years. We found the Council delayed excessively in progressing the current application. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr B and pay him £150.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in Council tax billing. The Council has apologised and offered a payment plan. There is insufficient remaining injustice, and further investigation would not achieve a different outcome.

Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s handling of her planning application. She said she submitted a second application, incurring added costs for reports and assessments, on the Council’s advice, but it would not succeed. Miss X said the Council has accepted this but has only offered to refund some costs. Miss X said the Council fault distressed her and impacted her financially. There was fault in the way the Council gave Miss X incorrect information, causing her additional costs. The Council has agreed to apologise and repay the costs it agreed Miss X incurred due to the Council fau

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to enforce planning permission. That is because it is a late complaint and there is no good reason to exercise discretion and consider it now.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council tax liability as the matter has been remedied and a right of appeal to a Valuation Tribunal was available.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to enforce against his neighbour’s fence and how it dealt with his complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s planning enforcement decision-making process to justify investigation. We do not investigate council complaint-handling where we are not investigating the core issue giving rise to the complaint. We cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s housing allocation because there is not enough evidence of fault.

Summary: We have no remit to investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to take the complainant to court for Council tax arrears. This is because it lies outside our jurisdiction.

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with an application for housing benefit. This is because the complainant has appealed the Council’s decision to a tribunal.

Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to take account of his disability during his application to renew his taxi licence. He said his licence was renewed late as a result. The Council was at fault when it did not offer to make reasonable adjustments for Mr X due to his disability. However, the fault did not cause Mr X an injustice, because the Council would have refused to renew his licence regardless of whether it had made reasonable adjustments. The Council agreed to carry out a service improvement to prevent recurrence of the fault.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with the complainant’s planning application. This is because the complainant had the right to appeal to the Planning Inspector.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint that the Council contributed to the delayed opening of a new community facility. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation. Also, the claimed injustice is not a direct result of fault by the Council.

Summary: We found no fault in how the Council reached its decision not to take enforcement action against a breach of planning control near Mr X’s home.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his neighbour’s planning application. This is because any fault by the Council did not cause Mr X significant injustice.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the inclusion in the Council’s Local Plan of a safeguarding route which impacts upon Ms X’s property. This is because the complaint is a late complaint and because an investigation is unlikely to add to the Council’s own investigation or lead to a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to accept her student status for council tax purposes because she could appeal to a Valuation Tribunal.

Summary: There was no fault in the Council’s handling of a planning and environmental health matter concerning a village shop and café. The Council did not intend to prevent the café serving hot food and so it is not fault that the planning permission allows this. The Council has also given adequate reasons why it does not consider the café is causing a statutory odour nuisance. For this reason, we have completed our investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a change in the Council’s Taxi Policy affecting a licence renewal because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council has billed her for too much council tax because her home is in the wrong property band. There is no fault by the Council because it bills according to the banding decisions of the Valuation Office Agency. Those decisions can be appealed to the Valuation Tribunal.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council issuing two council tax bills at once, as the remaining injustice to Miss X is not sufficient to warrant our further involvement.