The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council’s building control and planning departments failed to communicate with each other about whether the complainant had the necessary approvals for building works. There is no evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council’s building control and planning departments did not communicate with each other about whether he had the necessary approvals when his development was amended during construction.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We can investigate 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. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included their complaint correspondence.
I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X’s application for building regulations approval was dealt with by a private building control approver; not the Council’s building control department. We cannot investigate complaints about how these private bodies/individuals carry out their work.
Furthermore, it is ultimately the responsibility of the person seeking to carry out building works to ensure they have the necessary building regulation and planning approvals in place. In other words, we would not expect the Council’s building control department to provide advice on whether planning approval is required for certain works, or to have alerted the planning department when the development was amended.
I see no evidence of fault by the Council, so the Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman