The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a planning application. This is because the complainant has not suffered any significant injustice.
The complaint
Mr X has complained about how the Council dealt with a planning application and says the case officer failed to respond to his correspondence. Mr X has also complained about how the Council dealt with his complaint.
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: any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(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 Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X acted as an agent for a planning application submitted to the Council. Mr X has complained about how the Council dealt with the application and says it did not properly communicate with him.
However, much of the injustice caused because of the alleged fault with how the Council dealt with the application would have been suffered by Mr X’s client, the planning applicant, not Mr X. I understand Mr X spent time dealing with the application and making complaints. But the injustice he suffered as a result would not be significant enough to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman. Furthermore, as planning agent it was for Mr X to ensure he received suitable payment from his client for the time he spent dealing with the application.
Mr X has also complained about the Council’s complaint handling. However, where the Ombudsman has decided not to investigate the substantive issues complained about, we will not usually use public resources to consider more minor matters such as complaint handling.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not suffered significant injustice as a result of the alleged fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman