Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a Council’s decision to grant planning permission for extensions to a residential property. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council in the way it reached its decision to grant planning permission. Mrs X has also not been caused an injustice by any failure of the Council to publicise the application as she was still able to provide it with her comments.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has granted planning permission for extensions to a neighbouring property which have a detrimental impact on the local area. Mrs X is concerned the development will come too close to her property.
2. Mrs X says the Council also failed to put up a site notice publicising that the planning application had been received.

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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 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. We investigate complaints of fault causing injustice. Therefore we have only considered parts of the development which would have a direct impact on Mrs X or the surrounding area.
8. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council has reached its decision to grant planning permission. The Council’s officer report sets out the Council’s consideration of the design and appearance of the development as well as the possible impact on surrounding properties. The Council has imposed conditions including that some windows should be obscurely glazed. Therefore we will not investigate this complaint.
9. Mrs X says that the Council failed to put up a site notice publicising the application. Regardless of whether a notice was put up or not Mrs X has not been caused an injustice. This is because she was able to provide the Council with her comments on the application anyway and these were considered in the Council’s officer report. Therefore we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council in the way it reached its decision to grant planning permission. Mrs X has also not been caused an injustice by any failure by the Council to publicise the application as she was still able to provide it with her comments.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman