Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to inform him in advance of its decision on his client’s planning application. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault causing Mr X significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, a planning agent I shall refer to as Mr X, complains the Council failed to inform him of the likely outcome of his client’s planning application before reaching its decision. He says this has damaged his relationship with his clients, taken up a lot of his time and cause him upset and distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I reviewed Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and considered his comments.

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What I found

4. Mr X represents his clients in their dealings with the Council’s planning department. He assisted his client in making an application for planning permission in early 2020 and chased the planning officer dealing with the case for their view on the proposal throughout. But the planning officer did not inform Mr X of the likely outcome and rejected the application without warning him in advance. Mr X complained to the Council but was not happy with its response.
5. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. There is no general duty or obligation for a planning officer to inform an applicant or their agent of the likely outcome of their planning application before a decision is reached. While Mr X requested this in his correspondence the Council did not agree to inform him in advance. The application fee covers the Council’s costs for determining the application and any applicant must be prepared for the possibility their proposal will be refused.
6. Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council has 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

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault by the Council for which we would recommend a remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman