Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning application for a site next to the complainant’s home. There is not enough evidence to conclude that any fault has affected the planning outcome, so the complainant has not been caused a significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has failed to properly consider a planning application for extensions to a neighbouring property. In particular, Mrs X says inaccurate, existing separation distances were referred to in the officer report, and the Council did not include an ‘hours-of-working’ condition on the planning permission, despite it being recommended by a consultee.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We can 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. So, we do not start 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
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. In relation to the first bullet point above, we can consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered:
• information provided by Mrs X and the Council, which included their complaint correspondence.
• information about the planning application on the Council’s planning webpages.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. I appreciate Mrs X is unhappy the Council granted planning permission for her neighbour’s development, and did not include a condition restricting the hours of construction.
6. But the Ombudsman is not an appeal body, so we cannot overrule decisions on planning applications. Rather, our role is to review the process by which planning decisions are made, and to consider whether any fault is likely to have affected the planning outcome.
7. I find there is insufficient evidence to suggest that any fault has affected the outcome of the planning application. Mrs X has therefore not been caused a significant injustice by any errors in the handling of the application, so we will not start an investigation. In reaching this view, I am mindful that:
• The case officer visited the application site and took photographs, so would have been aware of the actual proximity of Mrs X’s home to the application site, and this approximately 6.6m separation distance will remain.
• Mrs X’s objections to the proposal are summarised in the case officer’s report, and the officer goes on to consider the impact on her residential amenity, albeit that the Council accepts this could have been explained in greater detail.
• Although the Council again concludes the officer’s report should have provided a more detailed explanation, the officer has clearly considered whether it was appropriate to impose an ‘hours-of-construction’ condition. Mrs X may well disagree with the conclusion reached, but it was made by an officer exercising their professional judgement.
• Planning decisions/judgements can often seem inconsistent, and while councils aim for consistency through application of local and national policy, a divergence of opinion and approach is inevitable where different decisions and judgements are made by different people at different times. Where opinions differ, we are not able to say which are right or wrong.
8. And if Mrs X thinks the works are not being constructed in accordance with the approved plans, then it is open to her to report this to the Council’s planning enforcement team.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs’s complaint because there is not enough evidence to suggest that any fault in the Council’s handling of the application is likely to have affected the planning outcome, so she has not been caused a significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman