Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council’s planning officers. This is because the complainant has not suffered significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, has complained about how she has been treated by the Council’s planning officers. She says officers were rude and ill informed. Mrs X says there were delays responding to her complaint and her concerns were not taken seriously.

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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 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 Mrs X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The Council received a planning application from Mrs X’s neighbour to extend their home. Mrs X objected to the proposal and says the case officer promised she would be told when the planning committee meeting would take place so she could attend. Mrs X says she did not receive any further contact from the case officer and only found out planning permission had been granted when she was asked to complete a survey.
5. However, I cannot say Mrs X has been caused any significant injustice in this regard. The application was not referred to the committee and instead decided by officers using their delegated powers. The case officer’s report also referred to Mrs X’s objections and addressed her concerns about the impact of the development before deciding the proposal was acceptable.
6. Mrs X has also complained the planning officers were rude to her and says the Council did not respond to her complaint as it said it would. However, I do not consider that the injustice suffered as a result of these issues would be significant enough to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has not suffered significant injustice because of the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman