Stafford Borough Council (25 020 860)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s communication of information during the consideration of an outline planning application. There is not enough evidence of personal injustice to Mr X to warrant investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X says the Council has failed to apply basic standards of fairness when considering an as yet undecided outline planning application. He says it:
- published his data without his consent;
- failed to tell him of a change of officer, but told the applicant;
- only put updates on its website, disadvantaging those without digital access; and
- dismissed equality concerns and gave no evidence of an equality impact assessment.
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 the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We have already considered Mr X’s complaint about data matters in complaint 25 016 856. We will not consider the same matters twice.
- Mr X has not been prevented from objecting to the proposed development, and the application has not yet been determined. None of the points of his complaint suggest he has suffered any personal injustice, and we have no consent for him to act on behalf of others.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence that he has suffered personal injustice to warrant our further involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman