Kent County Council (19 016 406)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 Feb 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s comments on planning applications for development in his area. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of significant personal injustice to him. Further, the planning permissions were granted by a different Council.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s comments on planning applications for development in his area.
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 complains about the way the Council has commented on four planning applications for development near him. He says that the developments will cause an increase in population and traffic to his village.
- The Ombudsman would not investigate a complaint of fault by a Council unless there is evidence that there is a significant personal injustice caused to the complainant. I am not satisfied that this has been shown here on the evidence available.
- Further, the County Council’s job is to comment on the Highways implications of a planning application. The final decision as to grant planning permission lies with the District Council which is not the subject of this complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman