Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning application. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr X significant injustice and it is unlikely investigation would achieve any worthwhile outcome for him.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has taken too long to determine an application for major development in his area. He says the Council has allowed numerous amendments to the scheme, ignored planning regulations and not followed the usual democratic process. He claims this has disadvantaged local residents and caused him stress and depression.

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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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

4. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
5. Mr X cannot currently claim an injustice from the Council’s grant of planning permission as the Council has not issued a decision on the application which is the subject of this complaint. He says the Council’s delay in determining the application has caused him stress but this is not significant enough to warrant investigation. We also cannot say the Council’s actions, whether fault or not, have caused Mr X’s depression.
6. The Council is entitled to proceed with the application and it is clear the delays are not entirely within its control. We cannot therefore say the Council must dismiss the application as Mr X would like and we cannot require it to decide the application by a specific date.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s handling of the application has not caused Mr X significant injustice and it is unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X by investigating the matter now. If the Council grants planning permission for the development, and if Mr X believes it has not properly considered the application, Mr X may make a new complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman