Peterborough City Council (23 000 428)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 May 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her neighbour’s planning application. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault affecting its decision.
The complaint
- The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council failed to properly consider her neighbour’s planning application. She believes the planning officer had already decided to grant planning permission before visiting her property to assess the impact of the proposal and that the Council failed to consider her objections.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The planning officer’s report shows the Council considered the impact of the proposal on Ms X’s property, including the basis of Ms X’s objections, but decided it was acceptable. The decision is a matter of professional judgement and I have seen no basis to question it.
- While Ms X claims the planning officer had already decided to grant planning permission before visiting her property there is not enough evidence to support her assertion or to show any statement wrongly affected the outcome.
- Ms X also raises concerns about the development breaching a right of access set out in her property deeds and causing damp to her property but these are not issues which the Council could consider as part of the application process.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council affecting its decision.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman