Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a planning decision. It is unlikely we would find the permission was granted because of Council fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council should not have granted planning permission for a building near his business. He says the building will create traffic problems which will harm his trade.

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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. (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 that available on the planning portal.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a building near to his business. He says it will cause traffic, road safety and parking issues. He says a Councillor should not have been on a site visit.
6. The documents on the Council’s planning portal show the Highways reports initially refused to support the application. But the last one, closest to the planning committee did.
7. We are not an appeal process. We cannot substitute our own personal or Mr X’s views on whether the planning permission should have been granted. The planning committee’s role is to consider the information provided to it and come to a decision. Here we could not say the planning committee was wrong to approve because of highways issues as the latest information it had supported the application.
8. Mr X says the Council did not stick to its policies. He says a Councillor was inappropriately involved and had influence over the planning committee. From the information we have, it is unlikely we would be able to say any possible Council fault has directly caused the planning committee to decide to grant the planning permission.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find the planning permission was granted directly because of any Council fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman