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Planning enforcement Maladministration causing injustice
27 March 2008
Bath & North East Somerset Council overlooked the existence of an agreement that a site had the benefit of an established industrial use fallback position, and incorrectly threatened to take enforcement action against the owner. The Ombudsman says the error led the Council unfairly to withhold business from Mr Scott in the mistaken belief that his site might be subject of planning enforcement action. ‘Mr Scott’ (not his real name for legal reasons) owns and operates an industrial site. For a number of years there has been uncertainty about planning approval for operations and development at the site. Mr Scott complained that the Council unreasonably threatened to take planning enforcement action against him; that it embargoed the use of his waste recycling facility; and that it incorrectly approved changes to the Local Plan that did not accurately reflect the approved use of his site. The Ombudsman found that the Council had overlooked the earlier agreement, and had unfairly withheld business from Mr Scott as a result. He also found errors in the Council’s process for approving pre-inquiry changes to the Local Plan. The result of those errors caused Mr Scott avoidable uncertainty, stress, anxiety and legal costs. The Ombudsman finds maladministration causing injustice and recommends the Council to:
Date Updated: 27/10/08
are in .pdf format. To view these files you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. It can be downloaded below free of charge. Click To Download