Wiltshire Council (24 017 749)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Mar 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council processed a planning application. We have already considered this complaint and issued our decision. We will not reinvestigate this matter. The complainant also raises concerns about the way the Council dealt with their complaint. We consider it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the process the Council followed when dealing with a planning application.
- He also complains the Council failed to follow its complaints procedure.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complains about matters we have previously investigated. We have seen no reason to reinvestigate complaints for which we have already considered and issued a decision.
- Mr X also complains about the Council’s failure to follow its complaints procedure.
- While we expect a Council to follow its complaint process we consider it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we consider there is no reason to reinvestigate matters we have previously considered. And it is not a good use of complaints about complaint procedures, if we are not dealing with the substantive issue.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman