Test Valley Borough Council (22 017 726)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 24 Apr 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about planning permission granted to a neighbour because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that his mother’s amenity was not taken into account when a neighbour’s planning permission was granted.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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, 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says that the Council failed to properly consider the impact a neighbour’s planning application would have on his mother’s amenity.
- The Council says it considered a report both by the applicant and the Planning Officer on the possible loss of light from the extension. The conclusion was that the impact would not be significantly greater than the original building.
- Mr X disputes the data used by the Planning Officer.
- However, it is not for the Ombudsman to question the professional judgement of the Planning Officer in considering the impact of the light. There is clear evidence that Mr X’s objection was taken into account and, in the absence of fault by the Council, there are no grounds to investigate this complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate ’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman