Aylesbury Vale District Council (20 001 882)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 01 Sep 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in deciding her planning application. This is because it would have been reasonable for her to appeal.
The complaint
- The complainant, Miss X, complains the Council took too long to deal with her planning application. She says the Council’s delay has cost her approximately £6,000 in lost rental income.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a government minister. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b))
- The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. The Planning Inspector considers appeals about:
- delay – usually over eight weeks – by an authority in deciding an application for planning permission
- a decision to refuse planning permission
- conditions placed on planning permission
- a planning enforcement notice.
How I considered this complaint
- I reviewed Miss X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Miss X and invited her comments.
What I found
- Miss X applied for planning permission from the Council in 2019. The law says the Council should decide applications for ‘minor’ development within eight weeks but the Council took more than seven months. The Council has now granted planning permission for the development but Miss X says the delay meant she could not rent out the property and has lost approximately £6,000 in rental income.
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. If Miss X was unhappy with the amount of time taken to decide her application it would have been reasonable for her to appeal. This is the mechanism provided by parliament to challenge delay in the handling of a planning application and I have seen nothing to suggest it would not have been reasonable for Miss X to use it.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would have been reasonable for Miss X to appeal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman