Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not notifying Ms B and other residents about a planning appeal. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation. Also, the alleged fault has not caused Ms B a significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Ms B, complains the Council did not tell her or other residents that an appeal had been put in against the Council’s refusal of a planning application. Ms B, who objected to the application, says the development could be approved at appeal because the Council did not notify residents about the appeal.

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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 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 Ms B.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council says its system shows it sent letters to over one hundred addresses to tell residents about the appeal. Ms B says she and other residents did not receive a letter. It is not clear why this was the case. It is possible the letters were not delivered correctly. An investigation is unlikely to find it is more likely than not this was the result of fault by the Council.
6. Also, the Council says it passed all objections to the planning inspector. So, even if there was fault by the Council it is unlikely Ms B suffered a significant injustice as a result. This is because the planning inspector will be aware of the objections Ms B and other residents made in response to the application.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation. Also, the alleged fault has not caused Ms B a significant injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman