Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to approve a planning application. The Council considered the neighbour’s objections before it made its decision. We are unlikely to find evidence of fault in the decision-making process.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mr X, says the Council failed to consider the impact on his property when it approved his neighbour’s planning application.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant, including the Council’s responses and the information on the Council’s website.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. I will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with the planning application for an extension to Mr X’s neighbour’s home as I am unlikely to find fault.
6. The Ombudsman does not act as an appeal body for planning decisions. We must consider if there was any fault with how the decision was made.
7. I am satisfied the Council properly considered the impact on Mr X’s home before granting planning permission. The planning officer addressed the impact on the impact on light to Mr X’s kitchen. They decided it was not sufficient to warrant refusal. I understand Mr X disagrees, but the planning officer was entitled to use their professional judgement and we cannot question this unless the process was tainted by fault. As the Council properly considered the application it is unlikely I could find such fault.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault in the way the Council made the decision to approve the planning application.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman