Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council (20 000 789)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about a planning application to be considered by the Council. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the injustice is speculative as the planning application has not been determined yet.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about a planning application to be considered by the Council.
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 have considered the comments of the complainant and the Council.
What I found
- Mr X says that a developer has submitted a planning application for development on land despite previous planning applications having been refused by the Council and the Planning Inspector.
- The planning application has not yet been determined and so the injustice is speculative and insufficient to warrant investigation. Mr X may make a complaint to this office if the Council grants the planning permission.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the injustice is insufficient to warrant investigation.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman