Broxtowe Borough Council (19 000 916)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains that the Council has refused to take planning enforcement action against his neighbour for a new driveway. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that the Council has refused to take planning enforcement action against his neighbour for a new driveway.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered the complainant's comments and the Council's comments and Mr X has had an opportunity to comment on the draft decision.
What I found
- Mr X says that his neighbour has laid a new driveway surface which has resulted in flood water entering his land.
- The Council says that, as the driveway is porous and not raised, no planning permission is required. It cannot therefore take enforcement action for unauthorised development because it does not need authorisation. This decision was reached after a site visit by a Planning Officer.
- The Council has properly considered the question of whether planning permission was required. It’s conclusion that the development is Permitted Development is not one reached with fault and so the Ombudsman cannot be critical of the Council.
- Mr X says that the drainage is inadequate and there has been a failure of building control to identify this.
- However, building control is carried out by a different Council and so the Ombudsman could not be critical of Broxtowe Council.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman