Westmorland and Furness Council (23 020 597)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Apr 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with the complainant’s planning application. This is because the complainant had the right to appeal to the Planning Inspector.
The complaint
- Ms X has complained about how the Council dealt with her planning application. She says there have been unreasonable delays and the Council has failed to properly communicate with her. Ms X says she will incur additional costs because of the Council’s actions.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. The Planning Inspector considers appeals about:
- Delay – usually over eight weeks – by an authority in deciding an application for planning permission
- A decision to refuse planning permission
- Conditions placed on planning permission
- A planning enforcement notice.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Ms X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X could have appealed to the Planning Inspector after eight weeks if she was unhappy with how long it was taking the Council to determine her application. I consider it would have been reasonable for Ms X to have used her right to appeal. The Ombudsman will not usually investigate when someone had a right to appeal to the Planning Inspector.
- Ms X has also complained about the Council’s complaint handling. However, where the Ombudsman has decided not to investigate the substantive issues complained about, we will not usually use public resources to consider more minor matters such as complaint handling.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because she had the right to appeal to the Planning Inspector.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman