Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about steps in the Council’s handling of a caravan park licence application. This is because the Council has not yet issued a licence so there is not enough evidence of it being at fault, and the complainant has not yet suffered injustice which could form the basis of a complaint as required by law. We have no powers to intervene in ongoing matters or speculate about what might or might not happen in future.

The complaint

1. Mr G wants the Ombudsman to investigate what he considers possibly misleading information in a Council letter to him, and to seek confirmation from the Council that:
• his specific concerns were addressed and
• the Council’s legal services are satisfied the proposed wording of a new caravan site licence is not creating a loophole which the owners of the park will be able to exploit in future.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant including correspondence between him and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr G lives on a residential caravan park which is subject to planning law and caravan site licensing law. He has made other complaints about events on the site but this one is only about the wording of a proposed new site licence.
6. Planning and licensing regimes are separate, as the Council has explained to Mr G. The terms of a caravan park licence are not a material consideration for planning purposes, nor do they affect land ownership. The existence of relevant planning permission may be relevant to whether the Council could issue a particular licence but it is not decisive.
7. Mr G’s complaint is about a proposed licence, so there is yet no fault for us to investigate.
8. Nor has Mr G made a claim of actual injustice to him from something which has already happened and which is not a private law matter between him and his landlord. There is therefore no evidence of injustice for us to investigate.
9. We do not investigate the way the Council handles complaints and correspondence about a matter if we are not investigating the matter itself.
10. This also means it is not our role to seek from the Council answers to all Mr G’s questions of it. We cannot intervene in ongoing matters or speculate about what might or might not happen in future.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr G’s complaint because there is no enough evidence of the Council having taken a decision or action, or of it having caused Mr G injustice, so there is no legal basis for a complaint to the Ombudsman.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman