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Planning enforcement Maladministration causing injustice
12 April 2007
Two couples complained about planning permission granted for the use of a room in a farmhouse as a tea room, and about the unauthorised use of a field adjoining their homes for car parking. In March 2005 the Council gave permission for the farmhouse dining room to be used as a tea room associated with the nursery already operating on the site with an outdoor tea garden. The permission required that the tea room should not open until vehicle access, parking and turning arrangements were agreed by the planning department in consultation with the Highways Authority. Shortly after permission was granted, the complainants contacted the Council because the field between their homes and the farm house seemed to be being marked out as a car park. On 30 March the owner of the tea room sent the Council a drawing and other details to show his proposed parking arrangements that used the field as access. This information was simply filed. In response to the complainants’ contact, an enforcement officer visited the site. He then wrote to the owner and the complainants explaining that the law allowed the field to be used for up to 28 days in any one year. The complainants kept photographic records of the field’s use, and these indicated that the 28 days had been used by 21 August. Bad feeling developed between the owner and the complainants, and unpleasant interchanges occurred. The filed drawing and details of the proposed parking came to light at about this time. On 21 September 2005 the Council accepted new drawings showing revised proposals for parking (without consulting the Highway Authority) and the condition to the planning application was discharged. The tea room closed during the winter but then reopened. This led to continued complaints about the use of the field as a car park and the expansion of food sales into a farm shop. The Council is currently dealing with these issues. In correspondence with the complainant and in response to the Ombudsman’s enquiries, the Council refers to the difficulties created by understaffing in the planning service and the problems of recruiting and retaining staff. It says that, as a result, the drawings and details of the parking arrangements submitted on 30 March were not recognised as relating to a condition of the planning permission. This meant that the owner did not receive a proper response and began to operate the business. The Ombudsman did not uphold the complaint about publicity arrangements for the planning application, but did find that the application was determined by a member of staff who did not have sufficient seniority to do so at the time. Also, there was no record of who took a decision not to take enforcement action, or of the reasons for this. The Ombudsman finds maladministration causing injustice and recommends the Council to:
Date Updated: 16/01/09
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