Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Mrs X’s planning application. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council granted planning permission for her neighbour’s extension without considering the impact on her home. She says the new extension will be overbearing and overshadow her home.
2. Mrs X says the Council should have dealt with the application at its planning committee because of an objection from a Parish Council but it was dealt with by officers instead.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
4. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and information about the application on the Council’s website.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Parish Council objection to the planning application was received after the deadline for comments had closed and only one day before the decision was made. Therefore, there is no evidence of fault in Council officers reaching a decisions on the planning application rather than the Council’s planning committee.
8. The Council produced an officer report when considering the planning application. This sets out the Council’s reasons for granting planning permission and consideration of the impact of the extension on Mrs X’s home. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council reached its decision. The Council’s officer report considered relevant planning matters including the impact of overshadowing and overbearing. Mrs X may disagree with the conclusions the Council reached but we cannot criticise the decision unless there is evidence of fault in how the decision was reached. Therefore we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with her neighbour’s planning application.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman