Summary: Mr C complains that the Council failed to publish a planning application on its planning portal, meaning he was unaware a garage extension would be built close to a property he has now purchased. I have concluded my investigation with a finding of no fault in how the Council published the application.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr C, complains that the Council failed to publish details of a planning application on its planning portal. Mr C says that, prior to purchasing a property in October 2018, he checked the Councils planning portal and there was no approved application present.
2. Mr C, who has now completed the purchase, says that the development is overbearing and if he had known it had been approved, he would have either not proceeded with the purchase, or would have negotiated the purchase price.

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What I have investigated

3. I have investigated whether the planning application was available to view on the Councils planning portal.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint documents; and
• considered documents provided by the Council; and
• communicated with Mr C about his complaint.
7. I also sent a draft version of this decision to both parties and invited their comments.

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What I found

What happened

8. Mr C purchased a property in November 2018, Prior to the purchase his solicitor alerted him to a potential planning application, submitted by the owner of a neighbouring property.
9. Mr C said, that when he checked the Council’s planning portal in October, there was an application published for the development of a neighbouring garage, but that this application had been rejected. Mr C says that there were no other applications on the portal.
10. Upon moving into the property, Mr C noticed that the garage in question had undergone development, and that it was now casting a shadow into his garden.
11. Mr C contacted the Council in January and questioned why the application had not been on its planning portal when he checked in October. The Council said that the application had been published in July, and that he should have been able to see it when he checked in October.
12. Mr C said that shortly after his contact with the Council, the application was available to view on the planning portal.
13. Mr C told the Ombudsman that if the application was available for him to view in October, he could have negotiated a lower price for the property or may have not purchased the property.
14. In response to the Ombudsman’s enquiries, the Council provided a number of logs showing when the application was uploaded and when the application was accessed.
15. The logs show that the application documents were made viewable on 11 July, with updated plans being added on 18 July. Web logs show that the application was accessed a total of 272 times between July and May.
16. The Parish Council commented on the application on 27 July. The Council explained that the only way the Parish Council can view planning documents is via the portal. It therefore concluded that the Parish Council must have viewed the application.
17. The Council also provided an email from the applicants planning agent, sent on 14 July, in which the agent said that he noticed that the portal was showing the incorrect drawings.

Analysis

18. Mr C complains that the Council failed to publish a planning application, which led to him purchasing a property without knowing that permission for an extension to a garage had been granted.
19. The Council provided evidence that shows that the application was published on its planning portal in July and that others have been able to access it. I am therefore unable to find evidence that suggests it was not available to view when Mr C tried in October. Therefore, I do not find fault with the Councils action in relation to this.

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Final decision

20. I have concluded my investigation with a finding of no fault.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

21. I have not investigated how the planning application was considered by the Council. In order to uphold this element of his complaint we would need to identify a fault which has caused Mr C an injustice.
22. Because I have found that these plans were approved and published, prior to Mr C purchasing his property, I am unable to conclude that he has suffered an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman