Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s processing of a planning application. The complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The complainant has used their right of appeal to the planning inspector.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Miss X, says the Council lost her permitted development application, leading to delay and a failure to deal with the application according to standard procedure.
2. She also says the Council did not respond to her complaint according to its complaint procedure.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a government minister. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of a government minister. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b), as amended)
5. 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 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

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. I cannot investigate this complaint because it is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and there is no discretion to investigate. Miss X has used her right of appeal to the planning inspector (see paragraph 2 and 3).
9. The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, we have no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal does not or cannot provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed.
10. The Council did not respond to Miss X’s complaint within the time frames set out in its complaints policy. It has apologised for this. While we would expect the Council to respond according to its complaints policy, I have decided not to investigate this matter because the injustice is not significant enough to justify the cost of the Ombudsman’s involvement.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the way the Council dealt with her permitted development application because she has appealed to the planning inspector.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman