The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council is considering the Local Plan. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the Plan has not been completed and so any injustice is speculative.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the way the Council is considering the Local Plan.
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or 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 the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
I considered the complainant’s comments on my draft decision.
My assessment
Mr X says that the Council has not properly considered the availability of open green spaces when considering their Local Plan. The Council does not accept this and says that they have consulted relevant expert bodies.
Nevertheless, no final decision has yet been made as to allocate the land in question and Mr X will have further opportunities to make comments on the Plan before it being confirmed by a Planning Inspector.
Any injustice claimed by Mr X is therefore speculative and, in the absence of any clear injustice caused by administrative fault the Ombudsman would not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
I do not intend to investigate this complaint because the injustice is speculative.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman