Tynedale District Council (05C16971)

Planning applications                 Maladministration causing injustice

21 March 2007

Tynedale District Council failed to follow its own policy on overhead power lines in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Ombudsman finds that, when the Council granted planning permission for a home, it failed to impose a condition requiring power lines to be placed underground. She says “As a result of this maladministration, there is now a section of overhead power line with supporting structures across an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.”

‘Mr and Mrs Rogers’ (not their real names for legal reasons) complained about the way the Council considered a planning application to change the use of an agricultural building to a home. The application included the erection of a nine-metre high domestic wind turbine to avoid the need to mount 1,600 metres of power line on poles, which would reduce the amenity of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and present a danger to wildlife.

The Council has a policy to ensure that overhead power lines are not installed across Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It has therefore imposed conditions on other planning permissions requiring power lines to be placed underground.

In approving this application, however, the Council did not impose such a condition. As a result, the developer chose not to install a wind turbine, and instead installed power lines on poles. The Ombudsman found that the Council should have included a condition preventing the developer from following this course of action in the event that he chose not to erect a wind turbine.

To remedy the injustice, the Ombudsman recommends that the Council should negotiate with the developer and the power supply company to remove the overhead power supply and install a wind turbine at the Council’s expense. The Council should otherwise negotiate with both parties to ensure that the power supply is placed underground - again at the Council’s expense.

Date Published: 19/01/09