Cornwall Council (21 007 298)
Category : Planning > Enforcement
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Nov 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about lack of planning enforcement by the Council against the use of a camp site near him. We will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault and some of the complaint does not cause such significant injustice to him that would warrant investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about lack of planning enforcement by the Council against the use of a camp site near him.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- I have considered the complainant’s comments on my draft decision.
My assessment
- Mr X says that a camp site near his residence (two fields away) has been operating without planning permission and is in breach of environmental regulations.
- The environmental complaints (food safety, water supply, food safety etc) do not, in my view, cause Mr X such significant personal injustice as to warrant investigation.
- The Council has investigated the need for planning permission given the number of tents etc and has now served an enforcement notice against the owners of the site. I am satisfied that there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council investigated this matter. Any further enforcement will be a matter for the courts or the Planning Inspector.
Final decision
- I do not intend to investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council and there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation of part of the complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman