The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s consideration of noise when determining the complainant’s planning applications. It is reasonable to expect him to have used his right of appeal to the Planning Inspector, and we will not pursue any concerns about the complaints process in isolation.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his planning applications, particularly with regard to its consideration of noise issues. He says: environmental health ‘changed the goal posts’ in its consultee responses between the two applications.
it was difficult to contact environmental health to discuss the technical aspects of the application.
environmental health interpreted technical guidance differently to his own consultant.
the Council hid behind process and let response periods expire without addressing the complaint details.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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), as amended) The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister and can consider appeals about a decision to refuse planning permission.
And it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
How I considered this complaint
I considered: information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included their complaint correspondence.
Information about Mr X’s planning applications, on the Council’s planning website.
the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
If Mr X wanted to challenge the consultee comments made by environmental health on his second application, it was ultimately open to him to wait for a refusal and then appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. I see no reasons why he should not be expected to have followed this planning process and used this right of appeal, so we will not investigate the parts of the complaint about the way the environmental health team considered and handled the application.
As we are not pursuing the substantive issues being complained about, it would not be a good use of our resources to investigate any concerns about the Council’s complaint process in isolation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to have used his right of appeal to the Planning Inspector, and we will not pursue any concerns about the complaints process in isolation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman