St Albans City Council (20 012 252)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 22 Mar 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council considered a recent planning application. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient injustice caused to warrant investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the way the Council considered a recent planning application.
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 was given an opportunity to comment on the draft decision.
What I found
- Mr X says that the Council failed to properly consider their policies in relation to parking for a planning application for a house near him. He says that the planning permission could result in more parking on the road and additional pollution.
- The planning application was for an extension to a property three doors away from him on the opposite side of the road. Both this house and Mr X’s have driveways.
- There is no evidence that there will be any increased parking as a result of the planning permission and Mr X’s ability to park at his house would be unaffected. I consider, therefore, that there is insufficient injustice caused to Mr X to warrant investigation.
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