Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s response to consultation about a planning application. This is because the Council is not responsible for the decision and we cannot say its actions, whether fault or not, caused Mr X significant injustice. We cannot therefore recommend any remedy for Mr X or achieve any worthwhile outcome for him by investigating further.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s response to consultation from his local planning authority about a planning application. He believes the Council’s response was wrong and he is concerned about the impact the development would have if it were approved.

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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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• 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 Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. As the local highway authority the Council was a consultee for the planning application but it is not responsible for the final decision on whether to grant planning permission.
5. Mr X confirms the local planning authority has now refused the planning application and we could not therefore say the Council’s response caused him significant injustice, even if it was flawed.
6. The applicant has now appealed to the Planning Inspectorate and it will be responsible for deciding whether the development can go ahead. If it decides to grant planning permission any injustice Mr X experiences as a result of the development would be the result of the Planning Inspector’s decision and not any fault by the Council. We could not therefore recommend a remedy from the Council.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot say the Council’s actions have caused Mr X significant injustice and we cannot therefore achieve any worthwhile outcome by investigating further.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman