Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Authority’s decision to grant planning permission. It is unlikely we would find fault which could have significantly affected its decision.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Authority failed to properly consider a planning application and granted it based on inaccurate information.

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X owns a property which backs onto a field. The Authority has granted planning permission for a medium sized development of multiple new homes on the field. Mr X says this has already reduced his property’s value. He is concerned about potential “loss of amenity, noise, light pollution, being overlooked and loss of privacy”. He is also concerned about the effect on the local community. He says the development is not in keeping with the local area.
6. Mr X says the Authority when it granted the permission was not provided with good enough, or accurate, information about many aspects. He says in particular drainage, landscaping and affordable housing numbers and needs were not properly bottomed out or described accurately to the planning committee.
7. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether Mr X disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
8. The planning committee has to weigh up all the information before it. It can adjourn if it feels the information is not complete or accurate. The planning committee made its decision at a public meeting. It decided it had enough information and decided the application. We are unlikely to be able to find fault which affected that decision. It was entitled to reach the decision it did.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision which would have significantly affected its final decision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman