Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council acted with fault when it granted outline planning permission in 2017. There is nothing meaningful we could achieve by investigating now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about various matters relating to an application for outline planning permission granted in 2017.

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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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (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 the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In 2017 the Council’s planning committee granted outline planning permission for a large development with all matters reserved. However, the permission was subject to the completion of a s106 planning agreement.
6. A complaint was made by a resident’s association about various matters relating to conditions under the s106 agreement. The complaint included allegations of officers concealing information and misleading the planning committee.
7. We assessed these matters in May 2025 and decided there was not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
8. Mr X was not part of the resident’s association but was involved in helping them challenge the planning application with the Council. He has now brought a further complaint on similar matters after making a formal request for information to the Council.
9. The new information provided by Mr X does not alter our original findings. The planning permission was an outline approval only, with all matters reserved. This means the allocation of plots or the density of the housing was to be decided by further reserved matter applications.
10. Additionally, Mr X is seeking answers to a process which occurred over nine years ago. This is because he believes there was insufficient legal oversight and poor record-keeping. However, any investigation now is unlikely to achieve anything meaningful.
11. The legislation governing our work explains we can decide whether or not to investigate using our discretion. The courts have confirmed we have wide discretion. Providing we consider the relevant circumstances of a complaint we can decide not to investigate, including because it raises issues we have already, substantially considered. This is the case here. Therefore, we will not investigate these matters further.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not achieve anything meaningful.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman