Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of planning-related issues in the complainant’s local area. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, says the Council:
• Has not responded to her complaint about the Council giving £30,000 to a town council to carry out flood risk assessments in association with site allocations for its draft Neighbourhood Plan.
• Failed to adequately respond to her complaint that the Council should have challenged false information presented by a developer’s agent at the Local Plan Examination Hearing.
• Failed to adequately respond to her complaint that three ward councillors should not be allowed to act in support of a planning application for an employment site when it is determined by the Planning Committee, because they have conflicts of interest.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 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
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint,
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

4. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the Planning Inspectorate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)
6. 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

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council, which includes their complaint correspondence and an update on the status of the Council’s consideration of Mrs X’s complaints.
8. I also considered our Assessment Code, and information about the planning application and Committee meeting available on the Council’s website.

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My assessment

9. With regard to the Neighbourhood Plan funding, Mrs X has said it is of very serious concern that taxpayers’ money is intended to be spent on flood risk assessments for a potential housing site in a flood zone 3 location. But the use of taxpayers’ money is something which affects all or most people in the Council’s area. With reference to paragraph 4 above, the Ombudsman has no power to investigate such matters. Furthermore, the Council says the funding has not yet been finalised or paid to the town council. The law does not allow the Ombudsman to investigate complaints about future injustice which may or may not happen.
10. Secondly, the Planning Inspectorate would be better placed to consider Mrs X’s concerns about the evidence presented at the Local Plan examination. The Ombudsman cannot interfere with the Inspector’s recommendation to find the plan sound, and we would not be able to speculate what, if any, difference a challenge against the alleged false information would have made to the recommendation. In addition, the Ombudsman has no power to alter the Local Plan now it has been adopted, so an investigation would not lead to a different outcome in that regard.
11. Finally, I appreciate Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s view that the three ward councillors would not be breaching the code of conduct if they supported the application at the Planning Committee meeting. But I understand the councillors did not ultimately attend the meeting. I therefore do not consider the Ombudsman should investigate this part of the complaint either, as Mrs X has not been caused a significant injustice as a result of Council’s decision on her complaint about the councillors.
12. As the Ombudsman is not investigating the substantive issues at the heart of the complaint, we will not pursue any associated concerns about the Council’s complaint procedures in isolation.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint for the reasons detailed above.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman