Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning matter. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mrs X significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains the Council approved changes to a new housing development behind her property and has failed to properly deal with breaches of planning control by the developer. She is also unhappy with the Council’s handling of her correspondence and complaint.

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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 Mrs X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Background

4. Mrs X lives in a property which backs onto a new housing development. The developer obtained planning permission from the Council several years ago but has not completed the development in accordance with the approved plans. The developer has applied to the Council to amend and vary the plans but there are still issues relating to the new dwellings built behind Mrs X’s property which remain unresolved.

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My assessment

Non-material amendment application

5. The Council granted permission for a non-material amendment involving one of the plots behind Mrs X’s house more than a year ago. Mrs X was not consulted on the application so was not aware of the change. She noticed the developer was not building in accordance with the plans and is unhappy about this. She is also unhappy the Council granted permission to amend the plans without contacting her.
6. We will not investigate the Council’s handling of this application because the matter does not cause her significant injustice. While the house design has varied slightly and brought the new dwelling slightly closer to her property it remains more than 25m away and development at this distance is usually not considered to have a significant impact on the amenity of existing homeowners.

Variation application

7. The developer applied for permission to vary the original approved plans and those submitted and approved under the non-material amendment application. Mrs X was consulted on this application and has objected to it.
8. While the application initially sought to vary the type of house on one of the plots behind Mrs X’s property retrospectively the Council confirms the application was inaccurate as it did not reflect what the developer has built. The application was therefore amended and any changes to the plot were removed. The Council has there not approved the proposed changes to the house-type and its decision to grant the application does not affect Mrs X.

Enforcement

9. Because the developer has failed to comply with the approved plans in relation to the plot behind Mrs X’s property the Council confirms it will investigate the matter as a breach of planning control. Formal enforcement action is one option available but there is no duty for it to take such action in every case.
10. Any complaint about the Council’s handling of this matter is premature as the Council has not yet reached a decision on how to proceed. If, once the Council has decided how to deal with the breach, Mrs X remains unhappy she may raise a new complaint about the issue. She would then have to exhaust the Council’s complaints procedure before she could refer the matter back to us.

Complaints handling

11. Mrs X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with her complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mrs X significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman