Devon County Council (20 005 376)
Category : Transport and highways > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Nov 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about how the Council considered highways aspects of a planning application. It is unlikely he would find fault by the Council has caused the complainant injustice.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr B, has complained about comments the Council provided to a National Parks Authority (NPA) on a planning application. He says this will lead to safety issues on a road near where he lives.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’.
- We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:
- it is unlikely we would find fault;
- the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Mr B said in his complaint and information on the NPA’s website.
What I found
- The NPA received a planning application for development which included access to a road near Mr B’s home. The Council is the highways authority for the area so the NPA sought its views on the proposal.
- It is evident Mr B raised concerns about the Council’s response. The Council provided the NPA with an explanatory note before it made its decision.
- The NPA could have chosen to either seek more information from the Council or refuse the application. However, even though it was aware of Mr B’s views, it decided to grant planning permission.
Final decision
- I have decided we will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find fault by the Council affected the NPA’s decision to grant planning permission and so did not cause Mr B any injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman