Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council has dealt with a planning application. This is because the complainant has not suffered any significant personal injustice as a result of the alleged fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X has complained about how the Council has dealt with a planning application. Mr X disagrees with the Council’s decision to refuse planning permission and says the case officer misunderstood the information submitted to support the application.

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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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, 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

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

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My assessment

4. Mr X disagrees with the Council’s planning decision and is unhappy with how it dealt with the planning application. However, the injustice caused because of these issues would have been suffered by Mr X’s client, the planning applicant, not Mr X. Mr X’s client can appeal to the Planning Inspector if they disagree with the decision to refuse planning permission.

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Final decision

5. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not suffered any significant injustice as a result of the alleged fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman