Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council considered a planning application. There is not enough evidence of fault in the process the Council followed before deciding to grant planning permission.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to consider the objections received on a planning application for a site near his home. He also says the Council failed to refer the application to the planning committee for a decision as requested by the parish council and ward councillor.

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

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My assessment

5. Planning controls the design, location and appearance of development and its impact on public amenity. Planning controls are not designed to protect private rights or interests. The Council may grant planning permission with conditions to control the use or development of land.
6. Local Planning Authorities must consider each application it receives on its own merits and decide it in line with their local planning policies, unless material considerations suggest otherwise. Material considerations concern the use and development of land in the public interest and include issues such as overlooking, traffic generation and noise. People’s comments on planning and land use issues linked to development proposals will be material considerations. Councils must take such comments into account but do not have to agree with those comments. The number of objections received is not a material planning consideration.
7. A council planning officer will normally visit the application site (sometimes they may not) and write a report assessing the proposed development. The report will refer to relevant planning policies and the planning history of the site; summarise peoples’ comments; and consider the main planning issues for deciding the application. The assessment often involves the planning officer in balancing and weighing the planning issues and judging the merits of the proposed development.
8. The Council received a planning application for a new house in the area where Mr X lives.
9. The Council received more than 100 objections to the proposal, including objections from Mr X and the parish council.
10. The planning officer visited the site and prepared a report which included a summary of the objections received, including those from Mr X.
11. The report also detailed:
• The planning history of the site.
• Relevant local and national policy; and
• An explanation of why the planning officer considered the proposal acceptable.
12. The local ward councillor asked to call in the application for determination by the planning committee. In line with the published procedures, the Chair of the planning committee considered the request. They decided it did not meet the criteria for referring the application to committee for a decision. Therefore the application was approved under the Council’s scheme of delegation.
13. It is not our role to act as a point of appeal against decisions made by councils with which complainants disagree. We cannot question council decisions if they have followed the right steps and considered the relevant information. While Mr X does not agree with the Council’s decision in this case, there is no evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have not seen sufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council considered the planning application.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman