Sueing the local council

MannyLondon

MannyLondon wrote: »

Can I go directly to the Ombudsman?

I have already appealed through to the officer who rejected my application, but he didn't even bother reply within the 10 days as specified on the website. He said that the councillor should have replied (???) by email. As of today, I don't have a formal answer as to why my application was rejected.

Summary (more of less) of what happened until now:
1) Applied for vehicle crossover
2) Received formal letter with refusal. Reason for refusal are not exactly listed on policy, other reasons are mentioned on refusal letter (!)
3) We appeal, and produce a detailed letter explaining where and why they failed to apply their own policy correctly. I solicitor friend of mine helped draft the response here.
4) No formal response from the officer for quite some time...
5) We involve the ward councillor. She agrees that the refusal does not make sense, but there is little she can do she says
6) We finally receive a half baked response from the officer (via email, something like 20 or so days after the chasers) stating the same reasons as the original letter (i.e. he ignored our appeal letter completely and says that we are trying to come up with a reason to approve the crossover (!)
7) With regard to the officer who refused our application: it is like talking to a broken record, it seems that in the entire department it is all down to an officer's interpretation of their own policy. (For the record, I am a chartered mechanical engineer and I do like technical drawings, policies and rules. I am 100% certain that our application complies 100% with the rules contained in the policy)....and the reasons provided by the officer do not have any logic whatsoever.

Brickwall. A very good use of my council tax money I would say!

Can I go directly to the LGO or do I still need to follow the Council local compliant procedure first? I feel that I am just wasting time as my complaint will very likely go to the same department. Perhaps even the same officer, who knows. But I will do it if I have to clear this step before engaging with the LGO...?

(Update): I checked the LGO website, they state that we must exhaust the local complaint procedures first, so I guess that’s my answer...

lincroft1710

If this was a planning application and you appealed, it will be the Planning Inspectorate who will decide the outcome, not your local council planning dept. Have you received any correspondence from the PI?

Barny1979

lincroft1710 wrote: »

If this was a planning application and you appealed, it will be the Planning Inspectorate who will decide the outcome, not your local council planning dept. Have you received any correspondence from the PI?

You do not necessarily need Planning Permission for a Vehicle Access Crossing, if it is not on a major road, eg A road, therefore OP is presumably on a residential side road and has therefore just applied to the Highway Authority, not the Planning Department.

MannyLondon

Barny1979 wrote: »

You do not necessarily need Planning Permission for a Vehicle Access Crossing, if it is not on a major road, eg A road, therefore OP is presumably on a residential side road and has therefore just applied to the Highway Authority, not the Planning Department.

Correct, we live at the end of a cul de sac.

lincroft1710

MannyLondon wrote: »

Correct, we live at the end of a cul de sac.

So which council department did you apply to?

MannyLondon

lincroft1710 wrote: »

So which council department did you apply to?

Highway Authority (is this what you were looking for...?). Thanks all.

Cherry_Burton

I've worked for various local councils over 30 years. I've dealt with lots of complaints in that time. Of all the complaints I have investigated I would estimate about 5% were upheld through the council's complaints procedure. Very few people go as far as the LGO. In 30 years only 1 complaint I have been involved in has been upheld by the LGO, compensation of £100 was ordered. We were all very upset at the result.

CB

MannyLondon

Cherry_Burton wrote: »

I've worked for various local councils over 30 years. I've dealt with lots of complaints in that time. Of all the complaints I have investigated I would estimate about 5% were upheld through the council's complaints procedure. Very few people go as far as the LGO. In 30 years only 1 complaint I have been involved in has been upheld by the LGO, compensation of £100 was ordered. We were all very upset at the result.

CB

Thanks for your insight.

We’ve taken control of the timeline as I am done being bossed around by a council’s employee with unreasonable reasons. We know we are sitting on a winner here otherwise we wouldn’t be so upset about all this.

We’ve initiated the local complaint procedure, I believe this to be a waste of time, but our objective is to tick the box so that we can go to the LGO. I informed the council (in my formal compliant) that if we don’t succeed we will be filing a formal complaint with the LGO and also writing to the local MP as we want him to know how the local council tax money is being spent (as in waste of council’s time).

Will let you know. :beer:

lincroft1710

MannyLondon wrote: »

and also writing to the local MP as we want him to know how the local council tax money is being spent (as in waste of council’s time).

He/she won't care. May make some sympathetic noises, but that will be all.