Harborough District Council (20 014 488)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 May 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s grant of planning permission for the use of a swimming pool next to his house. We will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s grant of planning permission for the use of a swimming pool next to his house.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), 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
- The Council granted temporary planning permission in 2018 for the use of a neighbouring swimming pool for private lessons. A planning application for a change of use was made in November 2020. Mr X objected arguing about the negative effects of parking and the use of the pool itself.
- The Planning Officer reported the objections made by Mr X and other neighbours. The Planning Officer concluded that the number of visits made to the pool by customers were not so great as to cause a significant highways problem (this was supported by the comments of the Highways department). The Planning Officer considered noise from a treadmill and generator but concluded that this was not so great as to warrant refusal of the planning application.
- Planning permission was granted for a further two years.
- I am satisfied that Mr X’s objections were taken into account by the Council when the decision was made to grant the permanent planning permission. Mr X's dissatisfaction lies with the merits of the Council's decision but, in the absence of fault, the Ombudsman cannot criticise the Council's decision.
Final decision
- I do not intend to investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman