Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council considered and approved a planning application. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s decision to approve a planning application for a warehouse close to her home. She says the Council:
• Ignored the fact the proposal was for a major development and will have an adverse impact on her home.
• Failed to require the developer to include a graduated paint scheme to mitigate the impact.
• Failed to advise her of a right to appeal against the decision.

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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 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs X and information available on the Council’s website.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Planning controls the design, location and appearance of development and its impact on public amenity. Planning controls are not designed to protect private rights or interests. The Council may grant planning permission with conditions to control the use or development of land.
6. Local Planning Authorities must consider each application it receives on its own merits and decide it in line with their local planning policies, unless material considerations suggest otherwise. Material considerations concern the use and development of land in the public interest and include issues such as overlooking, traffic generation and noise. People’s comments on planning and land use issues linked to development proposals will be material considerations. Councils must take such comments into account but do not have to agree with those comments.
7. A council planning officer will normally visit the application site and write a report assessing the proposed development. The report will refer to relevant planning policies and the planning history of the site; summarise peoples’ comments; and consider the main planning issues for deciding the application. The assessment often involves the planning officer in balancing and weighing the planning issues and judging the merits of the proposed development. The report will recommend a decision to grant or refuse planning permission.
8. It is for the decision maker(s) to decide the weight given to any material consideration when deciding a planning application. Development usually gets planning permission if the council considers it is in line with planning policy and finds no planning reason(s) of enough weight to justify a refusal.
9. I understand Mrs X is very unhappy that the Council granted planning permission for a large warehouse close to her property.
10. But the Ombudsman does not provide a right of appeal against the Council’s decision. Rather, our role is to review the way the Council made its decision, and to consider if any fault in that process is likely to have affected the planning outcome. Without fault in the decision-making process, we cannot question the decision itself.
11. In my view, there is not enough evidence to suggest that any fault is likely to have affected the outcome here, so we will not start an investigation. In reaching this view, I am mindful that:
• Objections received from statutory consultees and the public are summarised in the report to the Planning Committee.
• The plans and the presentation at the Planning Committee meeting showed the height and scale of the proposed building.
• Members of the Planning Committee visited the site and viewed the site from the garden of a neighbour property.
• There is no evidence to show the Committee members were unaware of the development being applied for.
• The minutes of the planning meeting show an objector spoke to the Committee, as did a representative of the applicant. Also a debate took place before the decision was made.
• There is no third party right of appeal against a planning permission.
12. The report, presentation to the Committee and meeting minutes show the Council considered the objections and the relevant material planning considerations. The Council acknowledges the development will have an impact on Mrs X’s home, however it does not consider it to be an unacceptable visual intrusion.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence to show fault in the way the planning application was considered.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman