Ms B complained about maladministration by Pembrokeshire County Council (“the Council”) relating to One Planet Development planning permissions. The Ombudsman set out to investigate whether the council had failed to follow the appropriate process leading up to the issuing of an Enforcement Notice (“EN”) to Ms B in relation to permissions on her land on 9 September 2021. It also considered whether the Council failed to properly investigate Ms B’s complaint regarding the process involved in issuing the EN, which meant that a full answer had never been received.
In response to the Ombudsman’s investigation, the Council provided information which made it clear that there was no internal policy or process in place in 2021. It also provided other comments relating to challenges with One Planet Development policy monitoring and enforcement. This information had not been disclosed to Ms B as part of the Council’s complaint investigation.
In respect of the first matter, the Ombudsman considered that it would not be possible to establish evidence of maladministration where there was no local policy/process in place. In respect of the second complaint point, the Council agreed to offer an apology and to provide the further information to Ms B that it had not disclosed during its complaint investigation. It also agreed to offer Ms B £250 financial redress in relation to its complaint handling. The Ombudsman considered this action to be appropriate.
The Ombudsman discontinued the investigation on this basis.