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. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his planning application. Specifically, he says the Council failed to prewarn him and then delayed in coming to a decision to refuse the application. Mr X also complains the Council’s advice about his application was not specific enough which meant he did not know what the Council expected.
2. Mr X wants a full refund of his application fees and architect’s costs, an audit of the Planning Department’s practices and for planning officers to provide more specific advice to applicants.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Ombudsman is not part of the Government and we do not audit council departments or decide planning applications.
8. 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 Mr X was unhappy with the amount of time taken by the Council to decide his planning application and the other issues in paragraph 1, it would have been reasonable for him to appeal.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it would have been reasonable for him to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman