Brentwood Borough Council (20 010 235)
Category : Planning > Enforcement
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 15 Feb 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about unauthorised roadside advertising hoardings. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient injustice caused to warrant investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about unauthorised roadside advertising hoardings.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
- it is unlikely we would find fault, or
- the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered the comments of the complainant and the Council and the complainant has commented on the draft decision.
What I found
- Mr X says that there are advertising hoardings on a nearby road which he says do not have planning permission.
- The Ombudsman must be satisfied that there would be a significant personal injustice caused to a complainant to commence an investigation.
- I am not persuaded that the injustice caused to Mr X by the advertising is sufficient to justify investigation.
Final decision
- I do not intend to investigate this complaint because there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman