Thanet District Council (05A06097 + 3 others)

Planning applications                 Maladministration causing injustice

25 October 2006

The Council approved an application for a development that included the construction of a three-storey house. However, in consulting neighbours, the Council used the developer’s description of the proposed development that described an application for the erection of two- storey houses. When the Council considered the application under delegated powers it repeated the misdescription and omitted a previously-refused application from its account of the site’s planning history. Four residents who either live in or own properties close to the development site complained to the Ombudsman about these issues.

The Ombudsman found that the misdescription of the application was maladministration, as was the omission of the refused application from the planning history. He was satisfied that, had the complainants been aware that the development included a three-storey house, they would have referred to this in their objections.

The Ombudsman was also satisfied that officers considering the application were nevertheless aware of and took account of the application previously refused and the proposal to build a three-storey house. He could not conclude that the Council’s decision would have been any different had the complainants objected specifically to this aspect. He found that the complainants’ injustice was limited to the fact that they did not find out about the third storey until it was too late to seek to influence the Council’s decision, and the uncertainty of not knowing what would have happened had they objected to the third storey.

The Ombudsman finds maladministration causing injustice and recommends the Council to pay £500 to each of the complainants.

Date Published: 29/01/09