The Ombudsman's final decision
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 affecting its decision.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council failed to consider relevant objections to a planning application for development on neighbouring land. He also says the Council provided incorrect and misleading information to justify its decision. He is primarily concerned about the impact of the development on a tree located in his garden.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The law does not allow us to question the ‘merits’ of a council’s decision to grant planning permission; we can only consider if there was fault in the way the decision was made.
I have reviewed the documentation on the online planning casefile alongside Mr X’s comments but I have not seen enough evidence of fault affecting the decision. We will not therefore investigate the complaint further.
While I appreciate Mr X is concerned about the impact of the development on Mr X’s tree the planning officer’s report shows this point was considered in detail and the Council included a condition to safeguard the tree from damage during construction. We could not therefore say the Council failed to properly consider the issue, or that the outcome should have been different.
Mr X is also concerned about possible breaches of planning control by the neighbouring landowner and the Council is currently investigating these issues. If, once the Council has concluded its investigation, Mr X is unhappy with the outcome and believes the Council has failed to consider the matter properly he may raise a new complaint. Mr X would need to exhaust the Council’s internal complaints procedure before referring the matter to us as a new complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman