Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a planning application for a development near the complainant’s home. This is because we are unlikely to find fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, has complained about how the Council dealt with a planning application for a new dwelling near his home. Mr X says the Council failed to properly consider the impact the development would have on his property before granting planning permission.

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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.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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What I found

4. Outline planning permission establishes the acceptability of development, subject to latter agreement to details of ‘reserved matters’. Reserved matters may be any or all of access, appearance, landscaping, layout, and scale of the development.
5. 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

6. The Council received an application for outline permission to build a new dwelling on land near Mr X’s home. It considered the proposal and granted permission with matters such as the appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the development reserved for later agreement. Following this, the developer made a reserved matters application and the Council granted permission subject to conditions.
7. Mr X is unhappy with the decision to grant planning permission for the dwelling. He says it will cause a significant loss of light to his home and argues the Council did not properly consider the impact on his property before granting permission.

Assessment

8. I will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a planning application for a development near Mr X’s home. This is because I am unlikely to find fault by the Council.
9. The case officer addressed the impact on residential amenity in their report before deciding the proposal was acceptable. The report referred to Mr X’s concerns about loss of light. However, the officer decided the impact would not be serious enough to warrant refusal due to the distance between Mr X’s home and the new dwelling.
10. Mr X says there will be a significant loss of light and the Council should provide more detailed calculations and data to support its view. But the case officer explained why they considered the proposal acceptable in terms of any potential loss of light and the Council was not required to carry out a more in-depth analysis as requested by Mr X. As the Council properly considered the application before granting permission it is unlikely I could find fault. I understand Mr X disagrees. But the Council was entitled to use its professional judgment to decide the proposal was acceptable and the Ombudsman cannot question this unless it was tainted by fault.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman