The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his planning application. The injustice he claims stems from the decision to refuse his application and if he felt the decision was wrong it would have been reasonable for him to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains about the conduct of a local councillor in relation to the determination of his planning application by the Council’s planning committee.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a government minister. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b)) The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. The Planning Inspector considers appeals about: delay – usually over eight weeks – by an authority in deciding an application for planning permission a decision to refuse planning permission conditions placed on planning permission a planning enforcement notice.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained that the actions of a local councillor in connection with his planning application amounted to a breach of Council’s the code of conduct. The Council rejected this complaint and Mr X complained to us.
We cannot consider whether the councillor’s actions amounted to a breach of the code of conduct as such complaints fall outside our jurisdiction. We can look at the Council’s handling of Mr X’s complaint but there would be no benefit to doing so in this case. This is because the issue did not cause Mr X significant injustice.
Mr X’s injustice lies in the refusal of his planning application, which he believes was not properly considered as a result of the actions of the councillor referred to above. In this case it would have been reasonable for him to appeal the Planning Inspectorate. Mr X says the councillor made claims which were not justified or supported by evidence and the Planning Inspectorate could have remedied this point by considering the application afresh. If the inspector found the reasons for refusal were not justified they could have overturned the decision and granted planning permission for Mr X’s proposal. This is not an outcome we could achieve.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X’s injustice lies in the refusal of his planning application and if he wanted to dispute the Council’s decision it would have been reasonable for him to appeal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman