West Lindsey District Council (23 005 422)
Category : Planning > Enforcement
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 10 Sep 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about planning enforcement because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- Ms X complains that her neighbour has acted in breach of planning permission as land an trees outside the planning permission area have been affected by the developer.
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, or
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X says that a property being built close to her property has damaged her trees and taken land not belonging to the applicant.
- The Council says that the building (subject of planning permission in September 2022) has not yet commenced and so there is no evidence of a breach of planning permission. Any damage caused is a private matter which could be referred to the Police if considered criminal. The Council confirms that the trees are not protected and would not be considered eligible for Tree Protection Orders.
- There is no evidence of administrative fault by the Council in this matter. Ms X’s complaints relate to land ownership and tree damage which are private matters and not for the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman