Wiltshire Council (19 013 357)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 Feb 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council granted planning permission for an industrial development which he claims will be harmful to health. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient injustice to him from the planning decision as the health issues are considered separately by the Environment Agency as part of a licence application.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the way the Council granted planning permission for an industrial development which he claims will be harmful to health.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered the comments of the complainant and the Council and the complainant has had an opportunity to comment on the draft decision.,
What I found
- Mr X objected to a planning application for an Energy facility on an industrial estate in 2018. The Council granted planning permission in June 2019.
- Mr X lives approximately two miles from the site of the development. He says he objected because he believes the development will cause chemical releases which will harm people who live locally.
- The decision as to whether the development can operate safely and in accordance with environment law is a matter for the Environment Agency which has yet to grant a permit. The planning issues which the Council can consider are not ones which would have any significant effect upon Mr X as he does not live close enough to be affected by the buildings themselves.
- Mr X can make his objections to the Environment Agency if he so wishes. However, I am not persuaded that the Council’s consideration of the planning aspects to the planning application affect Mr X sufficiently to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman