The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to act against an alleged breach of planning control. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council refuses to take action against his neighbour who has paved their back garden.
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 Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X told the Council his neighbour had paved over their back garden without planning permission. He says this causes rainwater to run off into his property.
The Council told Mr X it cannot act because planning permission is not required to pave over a rear garden. Mr X disagrees.
However, the Planning Portal states: “Different rules apply to paving over your front garden.
Elsewhere around your house there are no restrictions on the area of land which you can cover with hard surfaces at, or near, ground level. However, significant works of embanking or terracing to support a hard surface might need a planning application.”
The neighbour’s property is not subject to any planning restrictions. Therefore the Council is satisfied the neighbour does not need planning permission to pave their back garden and it cannot take any action to reduce the size of the area of paving/concrete.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman