Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council granting planning permission for an equestrian facility in the complainant’s village. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The alleged fault has not caused the complainant a significant injustice, and we cannot consider complaints about parish councils.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, raises concerns about the way the Council handled a planning application for an equestrian facility in his village. In summary, he says the Council:
• Failed to properly consider:
1. The risk of flooding associated with the development.
2. The impact of the development on the highway as a result of increased vehicular movements.
3. The impact of the development on important wildlife habitat/species.
2. Mr X also complains about the Parish Council’s consideration of the application.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. But we cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as parish councils. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I also considered our Assessment Code, and information about the planning application on the Council’s website.

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My assessment

7. I appreciate Mr X is very unhappy the Council allowed this development in his village and believes there are a number of flaws in the way it processed and assessed the application.
8. But we will not normally investigate a complaint unless there is good reason to believe the complainant has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the Council.
9. Mr X accepts he is not personally affected by the development itself. It is therefore my view that the restriction detailed in paragraph 3 above applies here, so the Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint.
10. Furthermore, we cannot investigate any parts of the complaint about the Parish Council’s consideration of the application.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the alleged fault by the Borough Council has not caused him a significant personal injustice, and we do not have the power to consider complaints about parish councils.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman