Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning matter. This is because the injustice Mr X claims is not significant enough to warrant an investigation and the actions he complains about do not raise points of significant public interest.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council failed to keep him informed about his neighbour’s planning applications and led him to believe he could object to them when the Council could not take account of his comments. He says he wasted his time making phone calls, sending emails and preparing detailed letters about the matter. He is also unhappy with the Council’s handling of his complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X, the documents included within the Council’s online casefile and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
5. I understand Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s handling of his neighbour’s applications but this is not a matter of significant public interest and the injustice he claims is not significant enough to warrant further investigation or any financial remedy.
6. The Council has apologised to Mr X for an error in its handling of his neighbour’s application and while Mr X believes the apology should come from the Council’s Chief Executive this is not a good reason to investigate the matter further.
7. Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr X significant enough injustice to warrant our continued involvement in the matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman