Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to make its local plan policies easily accessible in the local libraries. Any fault has not caused the complainant a significant personal injustice. And it is for the Planning Inspector to decide whether the Council’s consultation and plan are sound, and the process was legally compliant.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mr Q, says the Council’s local plan policies were not easily accessible in the local library as they should have been. He says the Council therefore prevented residents from participating in the full range of democratic activities, including by responding to major plans under consultation.
2. He wants:
• Council officers and members trained in the Council’s legal obligations to the public
• The draft local plan withdrawn, and the consultation rerun

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr Q, including the Council’s responses to his complaint.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Local Planning Authorities (LPAs), in this case the Council, prepare the Local Plans. Statutory procedures provide for public consultation and examination by the Planning Inspectorate (PI) which LPAs must follow before they can adopt them. The PI is acting on behalf of the Secretary of State when examining councils’ proposed Local Plans.
7. Before they give their proposed Local Plan for examination by the PI, councils must publicise it. This ‘publication stage’ allows interested parties to make comments for consideration within the PI’s assessment.
8. The Planning Inspector assesses whether the LPA prepared the Plan according to the legal and procedural requirements, and whether it is sound. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out the tests for soundness.

What happened

9. Mr Q says the Council failed to make the local plan policies easily available in public libraries. He says it prevented residents from participating in the full range of democratic activities, including responding to major plans under consultation.
10. The Council has published documents for the review of its local plan. These include detailed representations from Mr Q. Also, it says it received more than 800 responses to the local plan review consultation.
11. Therefore, Mr Q was not prevented from commenting on the proposals. He does not have the authority to complain for any other resident.
12. Any questions about the accuracy of information provided by the Council or the consultation process are a matter for the Planning Inspector to consider. The Local Government Ombudsman cannot investigate the actions of the Planning Inspector.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr Q’s complaint because
• Mr Q was able to make his representations in the local plan, so any fault has not caused him a personal injustice
• we cannot require the Council to withdraw the local plan review; and
• it is for the Planning Inspector to decide whether the Council followed the correct procedures including whether the consultation was sound.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman