The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s consideration of the complainant’s objections when it was determining a planning application. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. There is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, says the Council has failed to properly consider her objections to her neighbour’s planning application for a single storey rear extension.
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 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.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) We do not provide a right of appeal against a council’s decision on a planning application. And we cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached that is likely to have affected the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by Mrs X, and our Assessment Code.
I also considered the planning application documents on the Council’s website.
My assessment
I appreciate Mrs X disagrees with the decision to grant planning permission, and thinks the Council should have sought changes to the extension so the impact on her was reduced.
But the Council was entitled to reach its own view on the whether the applicant’s proposal was acceptable in planning terms. We cannot question that decision unless there is evidence of fault in the way it was made.
Council officers are not obliged to carry out site visits before determining a planning application, as they may already have local knowledge of an area or be able to identify the impact using tools such as Google Maps. In this case, the Council also had photographs of the site which Mrs X had submitted. Her objections are summarised in the case officer’s report, and it goes on to consider the impact of the extension on Mrs X’s residential amenity.
In my view, there is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision to justify the Ombudsman pursuing the matter further.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman