Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with a planning application for a development next to his home. This is because there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision to grant planning permission or its consideration of a potential breach of planning control. The Council has also not had an opportunity to respond to Mr X’s complaint about how it responded to his reports of dust and noise from the building site.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has granted planning permission for a new development without considering the impact on his home. Mr X says the Council also failed to take action against the builder for noise and dust nuisance during construction work.
2. Mr X says the Council’s failure to control the development and construction has caused him significant distress and he has been put to unnecessary time and trouble complaining about what happened.

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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. (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)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))

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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. We investigate complaints about fault causing personal injustice. Therefore, we have considered parts of the development which may have an impact on Mr X.
9. There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council has considered planning applications for the development next to Mr X’s home. The Council’s case officer report for each application sets out it’s consideration of the impact of the development on Mr X’s amenity as well as the impact on the local area. Mr X may disagree with the Council’s assessment but there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council has reached its decisions.
10. The Council has imposed a condition on a side window which overlooks Mr X’s property. The Council has said the window should be fitted with obscurely glazed glass before the development is occupied. The developer has installed clear glass but the Council says it cannot take enforcement action as the property is not yet occupied. The Council has reminded the developer about the requirements of the condition.
11. There is no fault in the way the Council has considered this potential breach of planning control. The condition requires the obscurely glazed glass to be installed before the development is occupied and so the Council cannot take action until this happens.
12. Mr X has raised concerns with the Council about the behaviour of builders on the development site. This includes nuisance from noise and dust. However, Mr X has not raised a complaint with the Council about how it responded to his concerns and so it has not had an opportunity to investigate and respond to this part of his complaint. Therefore, we cannot investigate.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision to grant planning permission or its consideration of a potential breach of planning control. The Council has also not had an opportunity to respond to Mr X’s complaint about how it responded to his reports of dust and noise from the building site.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman