Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his planning application and its decision to refuse permission for his proposed development. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mr X to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s handling of his planning application. He disputes the Council’s reasons for refusing his application, which he considers are wrong and inconsistent with decisions it has made on other applications for development in the area, and questions why the planning officer did not raise concerns about aspects of his development before refusing his application. He also complains the Council did not answer his questions and he is unhappy with its handling of his complaint.

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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’.
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), as amended)
5. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. The Planning Inspector considers appeals about decisions to refuse planning permission.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. If Mr X disputed the Council’s decision to refuse his planning application it would have been reasonable for him to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. The Planning Inspectorate, not the Ombudsman, has the power to decide if a Council’s decision to refuse planning permission is wrong.
8. Mr X suggests the Council failed to deal with his application properly but we could not say any fault on this point caused Mr X significant injustice unless we could say it wrongly affected its decision. This is a matter for the Planning Inspectorate and we will not therefore investigate the issue further.
9. While Mr X is also unhappy about the way the Council dealt with his complaint, the courts have said that where we cannot investigate a complaint about the main or underlying issue, we cannot normally investigate related issues either. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration in England [2006] EWHC 2847 (Admin)). So, where the substance of a complaint is not subject to investigation, the Ombudsman does not investigate the Council’s handling of the issue in isolation.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mr X to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman