North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council (18 019 756)

Statement Upheld Planning advice 07-Jan-2020

Summary: The Council was at fault only in providing inadequate advice when officers first became aware the extension Mr and Mrs J were building breached planning controls. But there was no significant injustice. It was unclear that firmer advice would have resulted in proposals that the Council could have approved sooner, and without Mr and Mrs J incurring costs for professional advice.

Bromsgrove District Council (19 002 962)

Statement Not upheld Planning advice 11-Dec-2019

Summary: There is no fault in action taken by the Council when it told Mr X to remove two structures from in front of his property. If Mr X disagreed with the Council’s view he could have applied for a Certificate of lawful development or awaited for it to take enforcement action and appeal to the Planning Inspector.

Wealden District Council (19 011 773)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Planning advice 09-Dec-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s pre-application planning advice. This is because it is unlikely we could show the Council wrongly advised Ms X or that this caused the injustice she claims.

London Borough of Bromley (19 011 253)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Planning advice 21-Nov-2019

Summary: Mr X complains about the quality of pre planning application advice he received. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because he can seek a remedy in the courts.

Kettering Borough Council (19 008 935)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Planning advice 13-Nov-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about advice provided by the Council’s duty planner service. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault by the Council causing Mr X significant injustice.

Wiltshire Council (19 002 917)

Statement Upheld Planning advice 11-Nov-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman found fault by the Council on Mr M’s complaint that it failed to take account of the information he previously sent about starting construction works on site when he applied for pre-application advice. The officer missed this evidence. The Council missed the opportunity to acknowledge this failure sooner than it did. This is fault. It delayed responding to a letter from him for 10 weeks. None of the faults caused Mr M a significant injustice.

South Downs National Park Authority (19 004 263)

Statement Not upheld Planning advice 31-Oct-2019

Summary: Mr X complains the Authority provided the wrong advice on a planning matter causing him to suffer financial loss. The Ombudsman finds no fault in the way the Authority gave advice.

Dartmoor National Park Authority (19 008 859)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Planning advice 17-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Authority has failed since 2015 to properly deal with firm A’s three planning applications for a plot of land. The firm had or has used its rights of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate for its last two applications from 2016 and 2017. The Ombudsman will not investigate because the firm used its Planning Inspectorate appeal right for the 2017 application, and it was reasonable for the firm to have used that appeal right in response to the 2016 decision.

Gedling Borough Council (19 000 333)

Statement Not upheld Planning advice 20-Aug-2019

Summary: Mr X complained about how the Council dealt with his planning application and the advice it provided. There was no fault in the way the Council provided pre-application planning advice.

Northumberland County Council (19 001 366)

Statement Not upheld Planning advice 07-Aug-2019

Summary: Mr X complains the Council gave positive pre application advice on the principle of planning and then changed its position in response to Mr Y’s planning application. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint at this stage as we could not identify what, if any, injustice the Council’s actions have caused Mr Y until the outcome of the appeal to the Planning Inspector is known.