The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the granting of planning permission and retrospective approval to remove a protected tree. We do not consider the complainant has suffered sufficient personal injustice to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
The complainant, I shall call Ms K, says the Council: incorrectly interpreted its permitted development policy retrospectively allowed the removal of a protected tree; and failed to respond to reports of breaches of planning control.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms K and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council received a planning application to extend a house. Ms K’s reports of breaches of planning control were noted in the planning officer’s report. After considering the relevant national and local policies the Council granted planning permission.
A tree officer inspected the work which had been carried out to the protected tree. He decided the owner/contractor had not deliberately set out to uproot the tree. The Council accepted the notice to remove it as dangerous under section 198 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This is a decision is entitled to make.
Ms K says she has experienced trouble and inconvenience because of the location of the building works. This is noted; however, she lives several streets away from the development site. It is expected that construction work will inevitably cause some inconvenience.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms K’s complaint because we do not consider that she has suffered a significant personal injustice which justifies an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman