The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for Mr X’s neighbour’s extension. This is because there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has granted planning permission for his neighbour’s extension without considering his objections or its local policies. Mr X says the Council’s actions have caused his distress and he would like the planning permission to be revoked.
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and information about the planning application on the Council’s website.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
There is no evidence of fault in how the Council has considered the planning application. The Council has considered Mr X’s objections as well as it’s local planning policies in reaching its decision. Mr X may disagree with the Council’s conclusions but in the absence of evidence of fault by the Council we cannot find fault with the way it reached its decision.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision to grant planning permission.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman