The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a planning application because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr Y complained the Council has failed to recognise and alleviate its potential conflict of interest in a local planning application, failed to seek suitable advice about the historical elements and nature of the planning application and failed to provide a fair and balanced officer’s report on the application, which he says copied phrases about the development from the application directly.
Mr Y says the area is of historic value to the area’s heritage and is concerned that the mishandling of the application, if found after the development is completed, will cause public anger.
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 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 continue an investigation if we decide: 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), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information Mr Y and the Council provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss of injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
While Mr Y may feel strongly about the issues he has raised, he has not suffered a sufficiently serious loss, harm or distress as a result of his complaint. He lives several miles from the area and is not directly affected by the development. Consequently, we will not investigate his complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman