Summary: We will not investigate Mr and Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of their neighbour’s planning application. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainants, Mr and Mrs X, complain the Council failed to properly consider their concerns about their neighbour’s planning application. They say the Council has not told them how they may appeal against the decision to grant planning permission and are concerned their neighbour’s building work breaches the permission and will damage their property. They also complain about the standard of building works carried out under a council grant from the 1980s.

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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 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. When considering applications for planning permission and deciding whether to approve them councils will consider the principle of the development and whether it is acceptable ‘in planning terms’. To reach a decision on this point there are certain issues they can consider, and some they cannot. Relevant points are referred to as ‘material planning considerations’ and include issues such as impact on privacy, impact on light and whether the development (including its design) is in keeping with the character of the area. Other issues, including the impact of a development on property value, private civil matters including rights and easements over land and the potential for damage to neighbouring properties, are not material planning considerations; councils cannot therefore take them into account in determining planning applications.
7. Mr and Mrs X objected to their neighbour’s planning application and raised concerns about flood risk, impact on privacy, the development being out of keeping with the character of the area and increased risk of flooding, amongst other things. The Council addressed these concerns but explained that it could not take into account Mr and Ms X’s concerns about the possibility of damage to their property, as above.
8. The law does not allow us to question the professional judgement of council officers unless there is evidence of fault in the way a decision was made. The planning officer’s report shows how the officer reached their judgement and I have seen no basis for us to question it. I appreciate Mr and Mrs X do not agree with the officer’s views but the only way to challenge it would have been at court; there is no third party right of appeal against a decision to grant planning permission.
9. Mr and Mrs X have now raised concerns about the works carried out by their neighbour under the planning permission; this is not something which is governed by the planning application process as it concerns how the development is constructed, rather than whether the completed works are acceptable.
10. Such matters are more appropriately for the Council’s planning enforcement and building control teams. If therefore Mr and Mrs X believe there are issues with the construction, including that the work being carried out breaches the planning permission, they should report these matters to the Council in the first instance. Contact details are available via the Council’s website, or Mr and Mrs X may call the Council’s main office and ask to be put through to the relevant team. If Mr and Mrs X are unhappy with the Council’s handling of their concerns they may raise a new complaint.
11. Mr and Mrs X have also raised a new complaint about the standard of building work carried out under a council grant awarded more than 30 years ago. We will not investigate this complaint as they say they have had problems with it over many years. Any complaint about the issue is therefore late and it is unlikely we could hold the Council responsible for the problem or say it must pay to put it right so long after the event.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman