Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council (19 008 817)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council is dealing with a planning application for a large development of houses. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation as the planning application has not yet been determined.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the way the Council is dealing with a planning application for a large development of houses.
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, or
- the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the complainant's and Council's comments. The complainant has commented on the draft decision.
What I found
- Mr X says that the Planning Officer made an error in dealing with a planning application for a large development of houses by insisting that the developer pay for the link road. He says that this could lead to the applicant building on protected land.
- The planning application itself has not yet been determined. The Ombudsman could not therefore determine if any injustice flows from the alleged fault by the Council. Mr X may make a further complaint to this office if the planning application is granted.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the claimed injustice is speculative and unquantifiable.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman