The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the planning advice given to the complainant. This is because we are unlikely to find fault.
The complaint
Ms X has complained about how the Council dealt with her retrospective planning application. She says the Council incorrectly told her the application was needed and she incurred unnecessary costs as a result.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We 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. We do not start or continue 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 Ms X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X contacted the Council’s council tax department as the use of her property had changed. Ms X says she was told she would need to apply for planning permission. Following this advice, Ms X made a planning application. Before the application could be validated, Ms X was told further information was needed. Ms X says she contacted the Council to question if the additional information was necessary and was told the case would be referred to planning enforcement if the application could not be validated. Ms X provided the requested information, and the application was validated. However, she later discovered the application was not necessary as permission was not needed for the property’s change of use.
Ms X says she has incurred significant costs because of the incorrect advice she received from the Council and says it should compensate her.
The Council says its council tax team has no record to show it told Ms X she needed to apply for planning permission. I understand Ms X disputes this and I cannot know for certain what was said when Ms X spoke to the council tax department. However, I would not expect the council tax team to be able to provide detailed planning advice and it would be the planning department that could confirm if an application was needed. The Council’s website also provides planning guidance and Ms X could have used its informal advice service if she wanted to check if the application was needed.
Ms X says the Council should have told her the application was unnecessary before it was validated instead of asking her for more information. But once the application was received the Council needed to ensure the requirements set out in its validation checklist were met and a proposal would not be assessed in detail until the application was validated.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman