Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning application with which Mr X has been concerned. This is because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already undertaken by the Council or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains there were errors in the officer report to the Planning Committee which determined a planning application to which he objected. He says the report should be corrected and he should be given an apology for the stress caused to him in pursuing matters.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council including its response to his complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. Mr X complained to the Council about its handling of a planning application which he had provided objections to.
6. The Council addressed his complaint in some detail and while it found there had been some inaccuracies in the report, they were not material and did not affect the planning process or the considerations of the Committee. It also found no evidence to support the officer conflict of interest Mr X had claimed.
7. We do not investigate every complaint we receive. We are funded by the public purse and have an obligation to use the funds allocated to us in an effective efficient and economical manner. We will not investigate where an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by a council or where an investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome. While the Council has acknowledged there were some inaccuracies in the report, they were not material and an investigation by the Ombudsman could not conclude but for the inaccuracies a different decision would have been reached.
8. While Mr X’s comments about the difficulties he had in getting our details from the Council, this is a secondary matter and not one we will investigate when we are not investigating the substantive issue. We will generally not investigate where the outcome sought is an apology.

Back to top

Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already undertaken by the Council or lead to a different outcome.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman