Epping Forest District Council (24 014 936)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s pre-application planning advice. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains he paid £180 for pre-application planning advice which he believes was unnecessary and not worth the cost.
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Where we find fault by a council, and where that fault has caused a significant injustice to the person complaining, we may recommend a remedy.
- Mr X wants the Council to refund him for the cost of his pre-application advice but we could not recommend it does this because the cost was not the result of any fault by the Council.
- Mr X sought advice from the Council and the Council set out the pre-application process and advised him of the cost. Mr X paid the fee and got the advice he wanted. While he does not think the advice provided value for money it was Mr X’s choice to use the process and the Council had no control over what Mr X wanted to know. In the end Mr X’s question was relatively straightforward but this was not due to any fault by the Council. Mr X as a formal response providing the information he wanted and we cannot say the Council must refund his fee.
- Mr X believes this is unfair because he says the Council did agree to refund his neighbour in similar circumstances. But any agreement to refund his neighbour is not an injustice to Mr X and does not show any fault in his case.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman