Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council handled the determination of a planning application for a replacement dwelling near the complainant’s home, or its handling of the subsequent complaint correspondence. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The Council’s handling of the application has not caused the complainant an injustice, and it has provided an appropriate response to the alleged faults in the complaints process.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains about the way the Council processed a planning application for a replacement dwelling near his home, and the way it responded to his subsequent enquiries and concerns. In summary, Mr X says:
• There were anomalies in the planning process which cast doubt on the validity of the planning approach and approved documentation, including:
1. Lack of clarity with regard to whether pre-application discussions occurred between the developer and the Council;
2. Changes to the description of the development between submission and determination of the application; and,
3. Inconsistencies in the dates on the planning documents.
• The Council either failed to respond, or delayed in responding, to his subsequent enquiries and concerns following the commencement of the development, and has not properly investigated the matter.

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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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• the Council has already taken, or proposes to take, satisfactory action in response to the complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6) & 24A(7))

3. And it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, including their correspondence.
5. I also considered our Assessment Code, and information about the planning application on the Council’s planning website.

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My assessment

6. I appreciate Mr X has raised several concerns about the way the Council processed the application and handled his subsequent enquiries/complaint.
7. But the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether a complainant has suffered a significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the Council. With complaints about planning applications, we will particularly consider whether any fault in the way the Council has processed or assessed the application is likely to have affected the outcome i.e. the decision to grant planning permission.
8. I have carefully considered each of the questions/concerns Mr X raised and am satisfied they have not affected the way the Council assessed the planning merits of the proposal. As the outcome is likely to have been the same but for the alleged faults, I find Mr X has not suffered an injustice as a result of the way the Council handled the application.
9. The Council has also apologised for the delays in responding to Mr X’s subsequent correspondence and says customer response times will be reviewed. It also explained to Mr X why his correspondence was latterly dealt with as a Stage 2 complaint. With reference to paragraphs 2 and 3 above, I am satisfied the Council has responded appropriately and reasonably to this part of the complaint, so the Ombudsman will not pursue it further.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not suffered a significant injustice as a result of the Council’s handling of the application, and it would not be a good use of public resources to look into the complaints process any further.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman