Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about how the Council has dealt with a planning application. This is because he is unlikely to find fault by the Council and the complainant has not been caused any significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, has complained about how the Council has dealt with a planning application for a site near his home. He says the planning case officer has deliberately misled residents and ignored serious highway safety concerns.

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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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered the complaint and the Council’s responses. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

4. When a local authority receives a planning application it must look at the development plan and material planning considerations to decide if the proposal is acceptable. Material considerations relate to the use and development of the land in the public interest and includes matters such as the impact on neighbouring properties and the relevant planning policies. It is for the decision maker to decide the weight to be given to any material considerations in determining a planning application.

What happened

5. In 2019, the Council received a planning application to change the use of land near Mr X’s home. Mr X has raised many objections to the proposal and says it will have an impact on highway safety. Mr X complains that the case officer has ignored these concerns and sought to approve the application without consulting the Local Highway Authority (LHA). Mr X says he has had to carry out his own research and contact the LHA to prevent the potentially dangerous application being approved without the necessary consideration. Mr X says the matter has caused him considerable stress and affected his mental health.

Assessment

6. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council has dealt with a planning application for a development near Mr X’s home. This is because it is unlikely I will find fault by the Council and Mr X has not been caused any significant injustice.
7. Mr X has raised concerns about how the planning case officer dealt with the application. He says the case officer told residents during a parish council meeting that there was no need to consult the LHA about the application. As Mr X was worried about the impact the development would have on highway safety, he contacted the LHA himself to raise his concerns. Mr X says the LHA only became involved after he contacted it and believes the Council would have sought to approve the potentially dangerous development had he not done so.
8. The Council did consult the LHA about the development and additional information was requested from the developer as a result of the comments received. Therefore, as the Council consulted the LHA as required it is unlikely I could find fault in this regard. I understand there is a dispute about who contacted the LHA first. But even if it could be shown that Mr X contacted the LHA before the Council, I cannot say he has been caused any significant injustice. The LHA has still been consulted and has had the opportunity to consider the proposal before the Council has decided the planning application.
9. Mr X has raised concerns about the pre-application advice given to the developer by the Council. However, I again cannot say Mr X has been caused any injustice. Regardless of any advice given before an application is made, the material planning matters will still need to be considered before the application is decided. This application has not yet been determined and has been referred to the Council’s planning committee. The committee members will consider the material planning matters and decide if the proposal is acceptable.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because he is unlikely to find fault by the Council and Mr X has not been caused any significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman