Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to refund her planning application fee. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains the Council should have realised at an earlier stage that she could not proceed with her planning application and should not have taken, or should have refunded, her planning application fee of £464.

Back to top

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
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I reviewed Mrs X’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I shared my draft decision with Mrs X and considered her comments.

Back to top

What I found

4. Mrs X applied for planning permission for a change of use in 2018. She paid the application fee of £464 and the Council validated the application, put up a site notice and carried out an initial assessment. It advised Mrs X her application was likely to be refused as she had provided no evidence to show she had attempted to sell the property and suggested she withdraw the application, which she did.
5. Mrs X contacted the Council more than 12 months later to proceed with her application but the Council confirmed she would need to apply again and pay a new fee. Mrs X was unhappy with this as she felt the Council should have advised her when she first submitted the application that she would first have to show she had tried to sell the property, before it took her money. She felt it had not done enough to justify the initial fee and complained when it refused to refund her payment.
6. The fact Mrs X had not tried to sell the property was not something we would expect the Council to pick up when validating the application and the Council does not have to justify the charge for the application, which is set nationally. Had Mrs X wished to get a view from the Council about whether her application was likely to succeed before she submitted her application she could have applied to the Council for pre-application advice. She did not do so and the issue was picked up during the Council’s consideration of the matter. There is no requirement for the Council to refund an application fee in these circumstances; the Council’s refusal to do so is therefore not fault.
7. The Council has now agreed to a partial refund of Mrs X’s application fee and this remedy goes above and beyond what we would recommend. The Council should issue the refund within six weeks of today’s date.

Back to top

Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council and it is unlikely we could achieve anything for Mrs X.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman