Plymouth City Council (05B14474)

Planning applications                 Maladministration causing injustice

30 November 2006

‘Mr Woods’ (not his real name for legal reasons) complained about the way the Council dealt with a planning application for a new golf course. His home backed onto ‘Forest Road’, part of which was being used as the route for construction traffic - including heavy lorries carrying infill material to be used in the construction of the golf course. These lorries gave rise to problems of noise, mud and dust on the road which affect his home. Before granting planning permission, the Council had not established details of the infill operation and so was not aware that it would involve approximately 66,000 lorry journeys, sometimes more than 120 per day, through a residential area including Forest Road, and extending over a period of three years.

The Ombudsman did not conclude that planning permission would have been refused if residents and members of the Planning Committee had been given information about the infill operation before the decision was made on the planning application. But he found that residents were deprived of the opportunity to make representations on this aspect of the application which has had a great effect on their homes. Mr Woods suffered injustice from not knowing whether the Planning Committee might have refused permission for the development with the proposed infill operation, or have added conditions to the planning permission specifically to address the impact of the heavy lorries on the residential area.

The Ombudsman found maladministration causing injustice and recommended the Council to pay Mr Woods £1,000 to recognise his sense of outrage at his lost opportunity to make representations, the uncertainty about the outcome of the planning application, and his time and trouble in pursuing the complaint.

Date Published: 22/01/09