The Local Government Ombudsman has criticised Bolton Council for flaws in the way it approved a planning application for a large residential development next to a man’s home.
Planning Portal writes:
Neither the council’s planning committee nor the complainant appreciated that the property next to him would be two metres higher than his, or that the developer would remove the trees covered by tree preservation orders (TPOs) along his boundary.
The watchdog concluded that had these issues been raised in a proper manner, the local authority would have taken action to protect the complainant’s privacy.
The watchdog found a number of faults in the council’s handling of the planning application including deficiencies in the Case Officer’s report.
This raised the issue of impact on neighbours, but did not address it; it did not mention the rise in land levels and include levels on existing residential land, and did not provide information about which protected trees would be removed.
The planning process was deficient because the Environment Agency was not consulted on flood risk issues and no account was taken of Government guidance on flood protection.
Because of these failures, the planning committee did not have the information it needed to make a fully-informed decision, said the watchdog. And because of the council’s failure to consult the Environment Agency, the wrong flood risk standards were applied to the scheme’s drainage.
The Ombudsman recommended the council should:
· apologise to the complainant, and meet him to discuss how it might now help restore his privacy and fund agreed work up to a cost of £1,000
· pay him £500 for his time and trouble in bringing his complaint
· review its policies and procedures to ensure it takes account of material planning considerations in future
· update its internal guidance on consultations to include all statutory consultees.
Read the LGO news release at: LINK
Search Planning Portal : LINK
