Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council deciding not to enforce against her neighbour for installing a larger window in their extension than permitted. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s planning enforcement decision‑making process to warrant an investigation. We also cannot achieve the outcome Ms X wants from the complaint.

The complaint

1. Ms X lives in a property near a neighbour who has built an extension, adding rooms into their roof space. She complains the Council has decided not to take enforcement action against the neighbour for installing a larger roof light window than was in the plans and granted permission by the Council.
2. Ms X wants the Council to enforce against the neighbour’s breach of planning control.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. 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; or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information from Ms X, relevant online planning documents and maps, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation has followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, even if someone disagrees with it.
7. Planning enforcement is a discretionary power held by local planning authorities. Where officers see a planning breach, they can decide not to enforce. It is for the planning authorities’ officers to make their decisions on whether to use their powers. National government guidance advises authorities to use enforcement as a last resort, only where there is significant harm caused by an identified planning breach, and not to only regularise a breach.
8. In response to Ms X’s reports about the roof window not being the size allowed by the planning permission, the Council investigated. Officers considered information about the window installed, its location and relationship with Ms X’s property. Officers determined the window was a planning breach but that it caused insufficient significant harm to the amenity of Ms X’s property to justify them enforcing.
9. It is for officers to gather evidence, consider the relevant policies and national government guidance, and apply their professional judgement to decide whether their Council should use its discretionary enforcement powers. That is the process they followed here. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s enforcement decision-making process for us to go behind their decision or to warrant an investigation. We recognise Ms X disagrees with the Council’s decision and considers the window has a hugely significant adverse impact on her property. But it is not fault for a council to properly make a decision with which someone disagrees.
10. The outcome Ms X wants from her complaint is for the Council to take enforcement action against her neighbour. We cannot order councils to take planning enforcement action. That we cannot achieve the outcome Ms X seeks is a further reason why we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because:
• there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s planning enforcement decision-making process to warrant an investigation; and
• we cannot achieve the outcome she wants from the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman