Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (06B01186, 06404)

Planning applications                 Maladministration causing injustice

31 October 2007

Dudley Council’s consideration of a revised detailed planning application for a housing development was flawed. The Ombudsman says that the Council failed to notice that the new plans breached its guidelines and, as a result, “new houses directly overlook the complainants’ homes, from a much closer distance and at a significantly higher level than should have been permitted.”

‘Mrs Jones’ and ‘Mr Smith’ (not their real names for legal reasons) are neighbours. A new development of 224 houses was planned on a former sports field behind their homes. They complained that the Council’s description of the application for detailed planning consent was misleading, and that it failed to consider their amenity or its own guidelines on minimum separation distances where there is a difference in levels. As a result, the complainants did not realise that the application was significantly different from the previous planning application for the site, and their homes are now dominated by new houses at the rear of their gardens.

The Ombudsman found that the Council wrongly treated a significant revision of the application as a minor amendment, and did not notify the complainants, who lost the opportunity to make their objections to the revision known. The Council failed to realise that the final layout breached its guidelines on separation distances, and restricted its consideration to the impact that the proposed development would have on the sole objector.

The Ombudsman finds maladministration causing injustice and the Council has agreed to pay the complainants compensation for any consequent reduction in the value of their properties, plus £250 each for their time and trouble in pursuing the complaint.

Date Updated: 21/11/08