Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a garage near him. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council causing injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a garage near him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• 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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. The complainant had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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My assessment

6. Mr X says that a neighbouring property built a garage without planning permission near the back of his garden. The Council considered enforcement action but a planning application was submitted in November 2019. The Council says that they sent notification letters to the nearest neighbours including Mr X.
7. The Council granted planning permission after concluding that local amenity was not affected by the planning application.
8. Mr X says that the building will affect the value of his house and his view. Neither of these objections are planning considerations and so the planning application could not be refused on these grounds.
9. I am satisfied that the planning application was properly considered by the Council. In the absence of procedural fault, it is not for the Ombudsman to question the merits of the Council‘s decision.
10. Nor am I not persuaded that the building itself will have any significant personal effect upon Mr X to warrant investigation, give the size of the building and the distance from Mr X’s house.

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Final decision

11. I do not intend to investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council causing injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman