Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a planning application. This is because the complainant has the right to appeal to the Planning Inspector if she disagrees with the planning decision. We are unlikely to find fault and the complainant has not suffered any significant injustice in relation to the remaining issues complained about.

The complaint

1. Ms X has complained about how the Council has dealt with her planning application and its decision to refuse planning permission. She says the Council failed to properly communicate with her and said she should have requested pre-application planning advice. Ms X says she has incurred additional costs because of the Council’s actions.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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

5. 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, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Ms X can appeal to the Planning Inspector if she is unhappy with the Council’s decision to refuse her planning application. I consider it would be reasonable for Ms X to use her right to appeal. The Ombudsman will not usually investigate when someone has a right to appeal to the Planning Inspector, even if the appeal will not address all the issues complained about.
8. Ms X says the Council did not respond to her agent’s emails. However, even if I did find fault with how the Council communicated with Ms X, I do not consider she has suffered any significant injustice as a result. Ms X also says the Council insisted she should have requested pre-application planning advice. Ms X says there was no legal requirement for her to do so and the Council should have made it clear if this was required. The Council has suggested it may be helpful for Ms X to request pre-application advice before resubmitting the application. But it has not said she must do this and the decision not to request advice on her first application was not the reason for refusal.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because she has the right to appeal to the Planning Inspector if she disagrees with the Council’s planning decision. We are unlikely to find fault and Ms X has not suffered significant injustice in relation to the remaining issues complained about.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman