Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s online planning system and how it dealt with a planning application. This is because the complainant has not suffered significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X has complained about the Council’s online planning system. Mr X says the Council recently changed its system. However, the comments he made on a planning application for a development near his home disappeared and the objections he made using the new system were not published. Mr X believes the Council did not carry out proper testing on the new system and says it has failed to investigate what went wrong. Mr X says he has been prevented from making representations on an application that will significantly impact his property.

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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. The Council has accepted the change to its planning system caused delays with some documents appearing on its website. It says documents were moved from the old system without issue, but it cannot check every application, and some errors have been discovered. The Council says it has investigated and resolved issues that have been discovered.
5. Mr X is concerned the relevant information will not be considered before the application for the development near his home is determined. He also says the Council did not properly inform residents about changes to the proposal. Mr X says the Council should investigate what went wrong. However, I do not consider Mr X has suffered any significant injustice because of issues with the new planning system or any alleged fault with how the Council publicised the application. The Council has confirmed that all planning documents, including resident’s comments, are available to the case officer so they can be considered as part of the assessment of the application. Mr X was also aware of the changes to the plans and able to comment.
6. Furthermore, the planning application has not yet been determined. Therefore, I cannot say Mr X has suffered any significant injustice because of any fault with how the Council dealt with the application as the Council may still decide to refuse planning permission.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not suffered significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman