The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council has dealt with breaches of planning control on land near Mr X’s home. This is because we cannot know what, if any, injustice Mr X has been caused until the Council reaches a decision on the planning application.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to withdraw a planning enforcement notice in relation to use of land near his home. Mr X is unhappy that the Council is now considering a planning application for increase of use of the land which he says will have a detrimental impact on his amenity.
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 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council has not reached a decision on the planning application to extend the use of the land near Mr X’s home. Mr X says it has taken the Council two years to reach a decision, however during that time there has been ongoing enforcement action which has been subject to an appeal to the Planning Inspector.
We cannot know what, if any, injustice Mr X has been caused until the Council has reached a decision on the planning application. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint. Once the Council has reached its decision Mr X may make a new complaint to the Council if he is unhappy with the outcome. Once he has the Council’s final response he may bring his complaint to the Ombudsman if he remains dissatisfied.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot know what, if any, injustice Mr X has been caused until the Council reaches a decision on the planning application.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman