Summary: Ms X complains about lack of planning enforcement against her neighbour by the Council. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council causing injustice to her.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about lack of planning enforcement against her neighbour by the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. I considered the complainant’s comments on my draft decision.

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My assessment

6. Ms X complained to the Council that her neighbour had moved away from his property and, as this was a condition of planning permission, the Council should take enforcement action against him.
7. The Council says that they interviewed the neighbour and confirmed that the move away was only temporary due to ill health.
8. Councils can take enforcement action if they find planning rules have been breached. However, councils should not take enforcement action just because there has been a breach of planning control.
9. Planning enforcement is discretionary and formal action should happen only when it would be a proportionate response to the breach. When deciding whether to enforce, councils should consider the likely impact of harm to the public and whether they might grant approval if they were to receive an application for the development or use. Government guidance encourages councils to resolve issues through negotiation and dialogue with developers.
10. I am satisfied that the Council properly investigated the complaint of a planning breach. In the absence of procedural fault, it is not for the Ombudsman to question the merits of the Council‘s decision.

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Final decision

11. I do not intend to investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
     

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman