Epping Forest District Council (03A17164 + 1) & Essex County Council (03A18978 + 1)

Planning enforcement & Waste management

Maladministration causing injustice (by both Councils)

28 November 2006

This report commented on events that took place over 25 years ago. Two neighbours of a waste transfer station in rural Essex complained about the actions of the District Council in advising that the then Waste Licensing Authority (the County Council) that the site adjacent to their homes in the Metropolitan Green Belt, had an established use as a waste transfer station. The County Council accepted the District’s advice and issued the relevant licence and the use continued and intensified since then.

The Ombudsman found maladministration by both authorities in that there was no evidence found or put forward by the District Council to support the claim of an established use, which was accepted without question by the County Council. He found no maladministration by either authority in the way in which they dealt with subsequent complaints about the site.

To remedy the injustice, the Ombudsman recommended that both authorities explore the feasibility of moving the site. If this was not possible within a reasonable period of time, they should agree to a valuation exercise to ascertain the loss in capital value (if any) of the complainants’ two homes associated with the presence of the waste transfer station and make payments to cover that loss. Each complainant should also receive £1,000 in recognition of the nuisance they sustained from the noise associated with vehicle movements to and from the site, and for their extraordinary time and trouble in pursuing these complaints with energy and vigour over such a long period of time.

Date Updated: 28/01/09