The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a large development in the area where she lives. This is because Mrs X has not been caused an injustice as a result of the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the development. There is also insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation based on public interest concerns.
The complaint
Mrs X complains the Council has granted planning permission for a large development on land near her home. Mrs X says the development will have a significant negative impact on local people and the local area.
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) We cannot question whether an organisation’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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. This includes information about the development from the Council’s website.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X lives over 500 metres from the development site. She is separated from the site by a wood, a railway line and a large number of houses. The development is unlikely to have any direct impact on Mrs X and so she has not been caused an injustice by the actions of the Council. Therefore we will not investigate this complaint.
I have considered whether there are any wider public interest reasons for investigating this complaint. However the Council has addressed issues relating to air quality, climate change, wildlife, highways and other matters within its officer report which recommended planning permission be granted. Therefore there is insufficient evidence of fault based on wider public interest concerns so we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has not been caused an injustice as a result of the Council’s actions and there is insufficient evidence of fault that would give rise to wider public interest concerns.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman