Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (21 010 854)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s consideration of a planning application which may affect the value of his property. We will not investigate this complaint because the planning application has not yet been determined so any injustice is speculative.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s consideration of a planning application which may affect the value of his property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:
- there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
- any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- The complainant provided comments on a draft of my decision.
My assessment
- Mr X bought his property in February 2021 then discovered that a planning application for a nearby development had been made of which he had previously been unaware.
- The Council says that the planning application has not yet been determined. The Ombudsman would not consider there to be any substantive injustice until the planning application has been determined as any injustice is speculative. Further, the Ombudsman would expect any prospective buyer to obtain any necessary planning information using the search mechanism available to buyers of property.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint because there is no substantive injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsma
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman