Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his planning application. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mr X to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s handling of his planning application. He says the Council has wasted more than a year and a half of his time, has not answered questions and emails and has misled him. He also says it has raised issues which are not relevant and referred to policies that do not apply to his proposal. He wants the Government to investigate the Council and believes it should grant him planning permission for his proposal. He also wants compensation.

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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 law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a government minister. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Ombudsman is not part of the Government and we do not audit council departments or decide planning applications.
6. The Planning Inspectorate acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister to consider appeals about delay, decisions to refuse planning applications and conditions placed on planning permissions, amongst other things. If therefore Mr X was unhappy with the amount of time taken by the Council to decide his planning application it would have been reasonable for him to appeal.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mr X to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman