Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about planning permission the Council granted to itself. He is unlikely to find fault in how the Council considered the planning application. Further, the proposed development has not taken place.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr B has complained about how the Council approved a planning application for development in a town centre.

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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’.
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault;
• 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)

4. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached that is likely to have affected the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered what Mr B said in his complaint and background information provided by the Council. I have also seen information about the planning application on the Council’s website.

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What I found

6. The Council submitted an application for development at a town centre site. The Council had to consider the planning merits of the application and grant permission if there were no valid grounds for refusal.
7. Planning officers prepared a report setting out the planning issues and summarising comments received by the Council. The elected Members on the Council’s Planning Committee considered the report and granted planning permission in November 2018.
8. A full meeting of the Council considered a petition against the development in March 2019. As a result, the Council decided to put any action on hold and carry out a review. The Council confirmed to Mr B in November 2019 that action remained on hold.

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Final decision

9. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence in how the Council decided to grant planning permission but, in any case, the development has not taken place.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman