Summary: Mr X complains that the Council has not taken action to ensure a development near him is completed. We will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council causing injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council has not taken action to ensure a development near him is completed.

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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. The complainant had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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My assessment

6. Mr X says that he lives a few hundred yards from a property which had been granted planning permission for a new house to be built (following demolition of the previous one). He says that this has not yet been finished and the site is a mess.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. If the local planning authority are of the opinion that the development will not be completed within a reasonable period, they may serve a notice (“a completion notice”) stating that the planning permission will cease to have effect at the expiration of a further period specified in the notice.
10. The Council says that it has served a s215 Notice on the owner to tidy the site up. They say that a completion notice has been considered but, as a s215 notice had been served, they did not consider it appropriate.
11. I am satisfied that the Council properly considered their powers in this case. I appreciate that Mr X is unhappy about the matter but I note that he lives some distance from the site. Any injustice to him would therefore be quite limited and not, in my view, be sufficient to warrant investigation

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Final decision

12. I do not intend to investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council causing significant injustice to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman