Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council processed and considered a planning application and investigated reports of breaches of planning control. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council failed to notify relevant parties about a planning application for a development close to her home. She also complains the Council:
• Failed to validate the planning application correctly.
• Dismissed the history of the building.
• Granted planning permission on a property not fully within the applicant’s ownership; and
• Waived breaches of planning control.

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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.

(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 Mrs X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council received a planning application to extend an existing building upwards to form added self-contained flats. The site is close to the road where Mrs X lives.
6. Regulations set out the minimum requirements for how councils publicise planning applications. For major development applications, councils must publicise the application by:
• a local newspaper advertisement; and either
• a site notice; or
• serving notice on adjoining owners or occupiers.
7. For all other applications, including minor developments, councils must publicise by either:
• a site notice; or
• serving notice on adjoining owners or occupiers.
8. As well as regulatory minimum requirements, councils must also produce a Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). The SCI sets out the council’s policy on how it will communicate with the public when it carries out its functions. In their SCI policy councils may commit to do more than the minimum legal requirements, for example, to put up a site notice and to serve notice on adjoining owners or occupiers.
9. The Council’s SCI states it does not write to individual neighbours advising them of planning applications. This is a decision it is entitled to make.
10. The Council confirms a site notice was placed close to the site. I understand Mrs X is not satisfied that the Council did not tell her personally about the application. However, erecting a site notice satisfies the statutory requirements for publicising planning applications.
11. Mrs X also complains the Council granted planning permission for a property that is not wholly owned by the application.
12. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure the correct ownership certificate is completed with their application and it is not the Council’s responsibility to decide land ownership. In this case the applicant originally signed the certificate stating they were the sole owner of the property. However, they later presented a signed certificate B confirming they had given notice to the owner or tenant of any part of the building. The Council received these documents before it granted planning permission.
13. Mrs X says the Council has ‘waived breaches of planning control’.
14. The Council received reports the development did not start until after the planning permission expired. And no Construction Management Plan had been approved.
15. The Council investigated the reported breaches. It determined work started before the planning permission expired. Therefore there was no breach of planning control on this point.
16. Enforcement Officers agreed there was a breach of planning control because the developer had not put in a Construction Management Plan.
17. Councils can take enforcement action if they find planning rules have been breached. However, councils should not take enforcement action just because there has been a breach of planning control.
18. Planning enforcement action is discretionary, therefore councils may decide to take informal action or not to act at all. Informal action might include negotiating improvements, seeking an assurance or undertaking, or requesting submission of a planning application so they can formally consider the issues.
19. In this case, the Council discussed the matter with the developer and asked for a Construction Management Plan to be submitted for approval as soon as possible. This has now been done and the breach has now been rectified.
20. I understand Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s actions. However, there is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council:
• Publicised the planning application.
• Considered the planning application.
• Decided to approve the planning application.
• Considered the reports of breaches of planning control; and
• Came to the decision to allow the developer to correct the breach of planning control.

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Final decision

21. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman