Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s grant of planning permission for a nearby school extension. We will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s grant of planning permission for a nearby school extension.

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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.

(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 considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. I considered the complainant’s comments on my draft decision.

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My assessment

6. A school close to Mr X’s home sought planning permission for an extension. The extension itself was not built in accordance with planning permission and so a retrospective planning application was submitted. Mr X, and other residents, objected to the planning application.
7. The Planning Officer noted the objections in the report to the Planning Committee. The Council concluded that the distance of the extension to nearby houses was such that the impact of the higher roof was not sufficient to warrant refusal of the planning application.
8. Planning enforcement is discretionary and formal action should happen only when it would be a proportionate response to the breach. When deciding whether to enforce, councils should consider the likely impact of harm to the public and whether they might grant approval if they were to receive an application for the development or use. Government guidance encourages councils to resolve issues through negotiation and dialogue with developers.
9. As planning enforcement action is discretionary, councils may decide to take informal action or not to act at all. Informal action might include negotiating improvements, seeking an assurance or undertaking, or requesting submission of a planning application so they can formally consider the issues.
10. The retrospective planning application meant that the Council could have a clear indication of the effect of the new building on neighbouring amenity.
11. We are satisfied that the Council properly considered the objections made by the residents. Mr X's dissatisfaction lies with the merits of the Council's decision but, in the absence of fault, the Ombudsman cannot criticise the Council's decision.

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Final decision

12. I do not intend to investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman