Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s planning and enforcement action against a property next to his home. There is a current appeal being considered by the Planning Inspectorate. Mr X can make a fresh complaint once the Planning Inspector has decided the appeal.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mr X, says:
• The Council failed to tell him when new plans were presented for a property next to his home
• The approved plans do not follow the neighbourhood plan
• What is built does not follow the approved plans
• Information disclosed at the Planning Inquiry revealed errors in the enforcement notices served against the developer
2. Mr X wants a formal apology and compensation for the stress and inconvenience he has suffered because of the alleged mismanagement by the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council’s response to his complaint.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X’s neighbour got planning permission in 2017 to demolish a building and replace it with a house. The Council received reports that what is built does not comply with the planning permission. The Council sought and obtained a regularising planning application from the applicant which it then refused. The Council issued an enforcement notice against the applicant. The applicant then appealed both the planning permission decision and the enforcement notice to the Planning Inspector.
7. Whether the new property is acceptable in planning terms and whether it is in breach of the previous planning permission are questions being considered by the Planning Inspector (who has yet to make a decision). The Planning Inspector is also considering whether the enforcement notice was appropriate.
8. The Planning Inspector is out of our jurisdiction.
9. The Ombudsman would not therefore, reasonably investigate this complaint at this point because any injustice caused to the complainants is speculative. Mr X can make a complaint to this office following the Planning Inspector’s decisions.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot reach a conclusion without the decision of the Planning Inspector and is therefore speculative.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman