Summary: Ms B complains the Council did not properly consider the impact of her neighbour’s planning application in terms of loss of light and outlook to her property. Specifically, she says the Council was wrong to classify her dining room as a non-habitable room on the basis her tenants were using it for storage when the Council’s planning officer visited. She says the planning permission will result in loss of light and outlook to her property and will reduce its value. There was no fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. I will call the complainant Ms B. She complains the Council did not properly consider the impact of her neighbour’s planning application in terms of loss of light and outlook to her property. Specifically, she says the Council was wrong to classify her dining room as a non-habitable room on the basis her tenants were using it for storage when the Council’s planning officer visited. She says the planning permission will result in loss of light and outlook to her property and will reduce its value.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the complaint and documents provided by Ms B and spoke to her. I asked the Council to comment on the complaint and provide information. I interviewed the planning case officer. I sent a draft of this statement to Ms B and the Council and considered their comments.

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What I found

Summary of what happened

5. Ms B owns the house which is the subject of this complaint but at the time of this planning application was rented to tenants. The Council received a planning application for an extension to the neighbouring property. Part of Ms B’s house has a room where the only light to it is from a side window very close to the boundary. The development proposed would be directly in front of those windows.
6. The planning officer put a card through the door of Ms B’s property asking if she could visit. The tenants responded and arranged a visit. Ms B found out about this and contacted the case officer by email.
7. The Council approved the application.
8. The crux of the complaint is that when the case officer visited Ms B’s property the tenants were using the room for storage. Ms B says this was a temporary situation as they were moving out; in fact the room is a dining room and should have been considered as such. As the Council considered the room was not a habitable room it considered the development would not have an adverse impact on it and the property as a whole.

Analysis

9. When considering a planning application councils should consider the impact it has on habitable rooms in neighbouring properties. There is no statutory definition of habitable rooms but the Council’s guidance says habitable rooms include living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and conservatories but does not include rooms such as bathrooms, utility rooms, halls, landings or garages.
10. Of relevance here is a previous planning application made by the neighbours. The Council had refused that application, in part, because of the impact it would have on a window to a habitable room in Ms B’s property. This was referring to the window to the room which is at issue in this complaint.
11. When the case officer carried out her visit to the application site she could see the window. She decided she needed to determine what room it was serving so she put a card through the door of the neighbouring property, Ms B’s property, and asked the occupiers to contact her to arrange a visit. That happened and she visited the property. The occupiers told the case officer they were tenants and she advised them that a consultation letter would have been sent to the property and that they should send that to the owner. They showed her the room and she took a photo. The photo shows a high level window, a boiler and various other items such as toiletries and cleaning products on the window sill.
12. When Ms B learnt of that visit she emailed the officer. She referred to the neighbours having asked the tenants a number of times to seal off the window to the kitchen/dining room on either a permanent or temporary basis so they could get planning permission for the extension to their property. The case officer replied. She said the Council would assess the application in the normal way and that would include considering if the proposed extension would have an impact on Ms B’s property but whether it was tenants or an owner living there was not relevant to the assessment.
13. It is not my role to consider whether the Council’s assessment of the planning application was right or wrong: I am looking to see whether the Council considered the matter properly and took into account all relevant factors. I understand why Ms B is aggrieved. She refers to the previous refused planning application which was because of the impact on that room and that her own application for redevelopment of her property had shown the room to be a dining room. But there can be no doubt the Council carefully considered this point. The case officer visited the property so she could see the room and she was aware of the previous refusal. When she had carried out the site visit she discussed the application with the officer who would decide the application. I, therefore, consider the Council had all the relevant information and there was no fault in the assessment of the application.

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Final decision

14. There was no fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman