Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council considered a planning application. We have not seen enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for change of use for a neighbouring property from a residential house to a children’s home for a maximum of two children. She says the Council’s decision was biased in favour of the applicant. She also says the Council ignored the objections from the local community.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong.
6. I have reviewed the information available on the Council’s website including:
• the planning officer’s report on the scheme
• the objections received; and
• the approved minutes of the planning committee meeting.
7. There is insufficient evidence to show the Council’s planning committee was influenced by anything other than relevant material planning considerations and the planning officer’s report, which summarised the objections received from Mrs X and other residents.
8. I understand Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s decision to grant planning permission. But the Council was entitled to use its professional judgment to decide the application was acceptable and the Ombudsman cannot question this decision unless it was tainted by fault. As the Council properly considered the application, it is unlikely I could find fault.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council considered the planning application. Therefore the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman