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 significant injustice as a result of the alleged fault.
The complaint
Mr X has complained about how the Council dealt with a planning application for a development in the area where he lives. Mr X says information about the proposal was withheld from the planning committee. Mr X believes the application would have been refused if this information had been available to members.
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 has complained about how the Council dealt with a planning application and the information available to the planning committee members. However, the Council has now refused permission for the development. Therefore, I do not consider Mr X has suffered any significant injustice because of any alleged fault with how the application was dealt with.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not suffered any significant injustice because of the alleged fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman