How to fight Council planning applications - Part 4

Part 4 - The Ombudsman

Firstly I must apologise for the amount of time it has taken to provide the final post on this issue. However despite initially making a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) in February, it took until November for me to receive any reply. The investigator advised that he had been out of the office over the summer and the complaint was not dealt with in his absence.

I initially sought the Ombudsman's assistance on behalf of the local residents when there appeared to be evidence of pre-determination. This evidence was not surprising to many residents – was it possible for a Committee to make an impartial decision, when they in fact act within the body making the proposals (i.e. the Council)?

The Ombudsman did nothing to investigate the complaint despite being presented with the evidence.

After the decision I contacted the LGO again (March), in reply I was advised to contact the offending Council direct with my complaint. This apparently was the required procedure except in exceptional circumstances, further to which if the matter was not resolved I should contact the LGO again. As the Council had not adequately investigated/responded when the issues were raised on a number of occasions during the planning process, I wrote to the Ombudsman declaring that this was in fact an “exceptional circumstance” and that an independent review was required. It could not be accepted by the local residents that the Council could find any malpractice on their own behalf.

The Ombudsman ignored this request and advised that the complaint had been referred to the Council to be dealt with via the Council's own Complaints Procedure.

The Council “investigated” the complaint and determined that their practice/policy was not to pre-determine applications.. The Council's response failed to provide any evidence to indicate that a full/proper investigation had been undertaken and they continued to quote doctrine (i.e. what “should” happen) rather than address what had “actually” happened.

I referred the matter back to LGO (May) repeating our request for an independent review. Their response (when finally received) was that having “investigated” the complaint, there was no evidence to suggest pre-determination (not commenting on that provided). In addition we were advised that public money “could not be wasted” solely because a decision had not gone our way.

No evidence has been provided to suggest that this matter was fully looked into and many people have questioned how independent the LGO actually is.

From this website you will see that there are many other people with the same concerns

Over 150 local residents situated at and around the proposed site objected to the plans, the Councillors (none of which were local) approved them. Do we really live in a democracy?

How to fight Council planning applications - Part 3

Part 3 - The Decision

Unfortunately the decision did not go in our favour and I hope you have better luck. You may wonder whether there is any right to appeal against a decision made by the Committee... well there isn't, unless you are the person making the application and the application is refused.

Be prepared that despite your arguments and the number of objectors the Committee may still approve the plans. The best you can do is try.

The only TIP I can add here is to make your views of the decision known; for example everyone who has attended should get up and leave whilst the Committee are trying to move onto the next issue, noisily if you wish.

Don't be afraid to make comment on the decision as you leave, it is one of things I regretted after all the work and stress I went through and having represented over 100 people:

• it allows you to express feelings couldn't put across professionally during the allocated representation slots – don't be constrained by their “process”, you no longer have to adhere to the process, but they still do


• it makes them aware you will continue fighting despite their decision


• it allows you to have the final say

The most important thing is that they are there to represent you – they are not judges (no matter how much they may act like it), so if they belittle you or tell you to quieten down when leaving make them aware of this! They only deserve your respect once they have earned it. That said don't resort to violence or personal attacks!

One thing I have not yet addressed with respect to the application process is the role of the press. At the Committee meeting there is usually a member of the press (local paper normally) taking notes and you may find that comments you have made within your representations are used if they write it up.

TIP – identify the press and pass a copy of your representations to them – this enables them to provide an accurate reflection of your main points and may include something they have missed. They may actually approach you afterwards to take your contact details. Some of my representations were included in our local paper's article.

If there is objection within the community with respect to the planning application, you may need to make the decision whether to approach the press yourselves. This may be of some benefit if the larger community objects to the plan or they do not understand the true implications of the proposals. It is for you to make the decision, but be aware that the press may become involved whether you choose to contact them or not.

On the other side of the coin however, bringing the press in could also be to your detriment. If other members of the community approve of the plans they may also choose to contact the Council to show their support, as I have previously advised a supporting representative can also speak at the Committee meeting, this does not have to be the person/company/department presenting the application. Unfortunately those who show their support will cancel-out those who object and may actually be more highly regarded by the Council. One of the main arguments the Council used to counter our objections to the proposals were that they would benefit the wider community, despite the local community, those actually around the proposed site objecting to it.

TIP– whilst there may be no real argument against the potential benefits to the community, it could be argued that the site is just not a suitable one; i.e. in our case building a youth centre on a private estate directly behind retirement homes. Therefore in your arguments enforce that there are better sites for the proposals to be located.

Finally once the decision has been made, if you are unhappy with how the Council has handled the planning application process don't give in. Throughout our application the question kept being raised with regards to the Committee's impartiality given that they are part of the Council and the Council is making the application. It will always be harder to oppose an application put forward by the Council than an individual for a number of reasons. I am not saying that there will be any impartiality/pre-determination issues but if there is any evidence of this you should complain to the Local Government Ombudsman who can investigate. Keep up the pressure, if not for you, for future people that who will also need to deal with the same planning department. The more complaints raised in the long run about unfair/impartial department decisions the more likely it will be dealt with. This is our current route and I will try and keep you posted.

Go to the LGO Website for more information.

How to fight Council planning applications - Part 2

Part 2 - The Committee meeting

Once the consultation period is complete, if you have raised an objection to the application you will be invited to the Planning and Highways Committee meeting. It is at this meetings that the planning application will be decided.

At the Committee meeting one person from each side, supporting and objecting, will have the opportunity to address the Committee for a 2 minute period.

TIP - Nominate one person to speak and gather details of everyone's objections – the more reasons for refusing the application you can hit them with the better.

TIP - Rather than solely raising the concerns objectors have, try to find policies which the planing application violates and therefore why the application should not be approved – for example we found several Unitary Development Plan (UDP) Policies contravened by the application's plans and by raising these achieved additional parking spaces and an access route to the site – these details were found on the Council's website.

In our case the Council put forward a report to the Committee prior to the meeting (which I think is common practice). Along with details of why the plans should be approved it detailed the number of objections and the concerns raised. However it also gave them a chance to counter these - albeit in our case they didn't address the main issue in question; the residents' concerns were about the security of the area (such as residents' property) and the Council responded with the security of the proposed site.

TIP - This report was published on the planning website and also handed to us just before the Committee meeting, however a copy was also sent directly to me when I raised my detailed written objection to the Council. N.B. It took a long time for a lot of the documents to be uploaded to the site - it is therefore worthwhile requesting a copy after the consultation period.

After both parties have made their representations the Committee members will then discuss the application based on what they have heard. Further to this the Chair will ask members to indicate whether they approve or reject the planning application and a hand show vote will be taken.

It is possible that the Committee meeting will be deferred either before representations are made or after them to enable further information to be sought. In our case it was deferred twice, once when Committee members were made aware of the number of objectors and then again to allow further consultation with the residents and for the applicant to submit a change of plans.

TIP - Until the decision is due to be made any further objections may be considered – if you need a few more petition signatures or other objections use this time wisely. Also if there are any companies which you believe have not been consulted which should be contact them and ask them to put any objections in writing – businesses/money should have a greater influence than an individual.

TIP - If you do get more than one chance to make representations try and always attack from different angles, if the Council have received written objections they are likely to know the reasons for your objection, there is no point repeating the same thing each time. As mentioned above try and find flaws with the plans especially where approval would be contrary to Council policy, try to gauge what the argument for approving the plans will be and try to counter them and raise any conduct issues i.e. lack of consultation/pre-determination.

TIP - Last but not least be sure you know the correct time and location of the meeting, I have heard of situations where times/locations are changed last minute and those who wish to attend the meeting are not advised. In our case our meeting was moved to another room on a different floor of the Town Hall, whilst many of us were waiting outside of the original allocated room.

See you for my next blog post part 3 - The Decision.

How to fight Council planning applications - Part 1

This is the first instalment of a four part series detailing my own experience of fighting a Council's planning application and advice on how you would go about doing so. If you would like a copy of the full series prior to its publication or have any questions please leave a post below.

Firstly I must say that we lost our battle and the planning permission was approved. Whilst unfortunately we did not win on the main objection to the plans (a youth centre) we did however get elements of the plans changed (parking/access) - I hope our story will help anyone else wanting to take a stand by showing what you are likely to expect and providing tips which may help you.

Part 1 - Submission of planning application and consultation

We were invited to a meeting about the Council's proposals approximately 3 months prior to the application itself being submitted. It is likely that your Council will do the same but be warned that they are unlikely to tell you when the application is actually submitted.

TIP - routinely check the planning application website for your local Council from the time you hear about the plans.

Once the planning application is submitted there is a period of 21 days statutory consultation within which time objections/support or other comments can be raised by consultees (e.g. Highway and Environment Agencies) or neighbouring residents. However there is only a duty on the Council to consult those residents who share a boundary with the site of the application, not necessarily residents living nearby. These boundary residents should be sent a letter with details of the plans.

TIP - in our case many residents affected by the plans were not consulted but still had objections. It is important to make everyone affected aware of the plans especially if there is a contentious issue. What I did was flyer these residents with brief details of the application and provided the web address where they could find the plans and comment on and object to them.

The more objections received by the Council the less likely they will be ignored. We believe is that it is harder to turn down a number of people than one sole objector.

TIP - get a petition with as many signatures possible of residents objecting to the application – involve your neighbours – I know it seems a lot of work but will take less time if split between a number of people – believe me it is worth it.

TIP - keep checking the Council's planning website, any comments from consultees and neighbouring residents will be posted, Highways Management in our case noted a flaw in the plans in their response to consultation and by using these “official” concerns it strengthened our own arguments.

Coming next week - the Committee meeting - how to prepare, structure your arguments and deal with the Council's underhand tactics.

Driver Sues Dead Cyclist

Spanish Driver Sues Dead Cyclist

Click on the above link and read the article - tell me what you think. Imagine that the car driver was not speeding and only that he failed to see a cyclist who was riding at night with no reflective clothing and no helmet. (The driver in the article has not faced any criminal charges).

Is he right to want compensation for the damage to his vehicle from the dead cyclist's family?

If one car driver caused a collision with the other but died of his injuries, the other driver would claim against the dead person's insurance company being liable for the accident - not involving the dead man's relatives. However as this case involved a cyclist there is no insurance company to fall back on so he would naturally look towards the dead man's relatives for compensation.

You could however question why the driver has not claimed against his own insurance company. The article unfortunately does not provide full details of the accident, if the accident was solely the fault of the cyclist, why should the driver have to make a claim to his insurance company which would subsequently affect his premiums and any no claims bonus. Compare this with someone whose car is vandalised; their insurance is affected, yet they are not to blame - is this fair?

Personally if the cyclist was wholly to blame I do not blame the driver for making a claim although directing this at the cyclist's family appears insensitive, but it may be the only option. Even if the cyclist is only partly responsible the driver can still claim.

If this case happened in the UK, I think many home insurance policies cover liabilities relating to householders' actions and the driver would be able to claim against this.