Wychavon District Council (20 003 759)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 24 Mar 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council has considered a planning application for a development next to him. We will not investigate this complaint because planning permission has not yet been given and so any injustice is speculative and does not warrant investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the way the Council has considered a planning application for a development next to him.
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 commented on the draft decision.
What I found
- A planning application for a development of bungalows on land at the back of Mr X’s house was submitted to the Council in July 2019. The Council’s Planning Committee considered the planning application in March 2020 but no decision has yet been made.
- The Ombudsman would not investigate a complaint about a planning matter where no planning permission has yet been made. This is because any injustice claimed is speculative until a final decision is made.
- Mr X may make a further complaint to this office if planning permission is granted and he remains unhappy.
Final decision
- I do not intend to investigate this complaint because there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman