Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to notify the complainant, and other residents, about a planning application close to their homes. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council, and the application outcome is likely to have been the same.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, says she, and many other residents, did not receive a notification letter about a planning application for a residential development close to their homes.

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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 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, or

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I also considered our Assessment Code, and information about the application on the Council’s website.

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My assessment

5. The Council’s planning database shows it created notification letters for 48 properties, including Mrs X’s address. It has also provided me with a photograph of a site notice attached to a lamppost next to the site.
6. The Council received three objection letters, including two from addresses it had sent notification letters to.
7. Mrs X says she, and most of the 18 houses directly affected by the development, did not receive a notification letter.
8. I accept Mrs X did not receive a notification letter, but this does not automatically mean the Council acted with fault.
9. There is evidence the Council sent the notification letters, as 3 of the 18 houses Mrs X spoke to appear to have received one, and the Council received objection letters from two of the neighbours it wrote to. There is no statutory requirement for Council’s to prove delivery of notification letters, and we cannot hold it responsible for any errors by Royal Mail in delivering them. Overall, I find there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify the Ombudsman starting an investigation.
10. Furthermore, even if Mrs X had been able to submit objections to the application, I am satisfied the outcome is still likely to have been the same. In reaching this view, I am particularly mindful that a similar residential development had previously been approved on the site, the Council considered the comments from consultees, and the case officer’s report considers the relevant material planning considerations in some detail. As the application is likely to have been approved anyway, I do not consider the alleged fault in the notification process has caused Mrs X a significant injustice.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council in the way it publicised the application, and the outcome is likely to have been the same even if Mrs X had had the opportunity to object.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman