Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning application with which Mr X is concerned. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of a planning application for development at a site with which he is concerned. He says an investigation is needed to ensure the developers and Council are not acting as one and that there has been no foul play.

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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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council, including its response to the complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained to the Council about its handling of a planning application for proposed development at a site in his local area. While the application had been recommended for refusal and was refused by the Planning Committee, Mr X raised a number of concerns he asked the Council to address.
6. The Council did not uphold the complaint apart to acknowledge that it should have included all consultees within the consultee list in the report to Committee. However, it noted the comments of the consultee not on the list had been fully considered and indeed one of that consultee’s concerns had been the basis of the one of the reasons for refusal.
7. Mr X alleges the Council has shown bias towards the developer, but there is no evidence to support this view. It refused the planning application and while he may be concerned about any future planning applications received for the same site, these will be assessed on their own merit.
8. We do not investigate every complaint we receive and there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation in this case.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman