Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning application for works to a property next to the complainant. 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 causing significant injustice to the complainant.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says the Council’s handling and assessment of a planning application for alterations to the neighbouring property was inadequate. In summary, Mr X says:
• The condition on the planning permission relating to the bathroom window fails to include the requirement that it is non-opening below 1.7m.
• The Council failed to properly consider the level of overlooking and loss of privacy that would occur from the new balcony.
• The proposed roof materials will not be in keeping with the character of the street scene, and this has not been addressed in the case officer’s report.
• Correspondence between the applicant’s agent and the case officer was not publish on the Council’s online planning portal until after the application had been determined.

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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
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

3. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached that is likely to have affected the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and our Assessment Code.
5. I also considered the planning application documents on the Council’s online planning portal, including the plans, correspondence between the agent and the case officer, and the case officer’s report on the proposal.

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My assessment

6. We cannot question the professional judgement of council officers unless there has been fault in the processes they have followed which, but for that fault, might have led to a different decision.
7. I appreciate Mr X thinks the balcony and roof tiles should not have been approved. But, having considered the planning application documents, I am satisfied the case officer understood what was being proposed and she was entitled to reach her own judgement on whether these elements were acceptable in planning terms. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify further investigation into these parts of the complaint.
8. I note the Council has apologised to Mr X for omitting the requirement to restrict the opening of the obscure-glazed bathroom window. However, given the window is relatively small and serves a bathroom, I do not consider the extent of any overlooking will be so serious as to justify the Ombudsman pursuing this part of the complaint further.
9. The Council has also apologised for failing to upload the correspondence between the agent and the case officer sooner. It says staff have been reminded to upload material as soon as possible. In my view, the application outcome is unlikely to have been different if these documents had been made available to Mr X earlier, so I do not consider the Ombudsman should investigate this part of the complaint either.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault causing him significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman