Council Issues Apology for Planning Errors

Published on 22 December 2006

An apology has been made by Epping Forest District Council for a series of mistakes that led to an investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman into a planning application. Administrative errors combined with heavy workloads, staff vacancies, new procedures and a drive to reduce decision times may have contributed to the errors for which the Council was asked to pay £250 compensation.

The low level of compensation reflects the Ombudsman’s view that despite the mistakes, little direct harm was caused to the complainant.

The complaint focused on a planning application in 2005 for a new house in the Green Belt. The decision to grant permission was taken by Council officers under delegated authority and never referred to councillors. Due to a number of administrative errors, the subsequent permission was issued without important conditions including the demolition of the existing house and the removal of permitted development rights. The outcome was that the original house was retained and the new house was larger than the permission the Council had intended to grant.

Councillor Mrs Anne Grigg who became Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development after the permission was issued said: “We have let down the residents of Epping Forest in this case and I am sorry for the harm this has caused. We have accepted the findings of the Ombudsman. Changes to our systems had already been put in place before his report and we will now take a hard look at his recommendations to see where further improvements can be made.

Councillor Mrs Grigg continued: “With around 2,000 planning applications each year it is impossible for councillors to consider every case. We rely on our staff to deal with much of the workload under delegated authority. There was a series of errors but I am pleased to see the Ombudsman accepted our staff acted in good faith throughout.

“The Planning Service is under tremendous pressure. Not only do we have a huge number of applications to handle but we are under constant Government pressure to speed up decision times. At the time of this case the service was also in the middle of a major internal reorganisation and experiencing serious staff shortages. Senior officers were also heavily involved in the defence of the district against the East of England Plan development proposals."

However, whatever the circumstances, we made a series of mistakes and I would like to assure residents that lessons will be learned.”

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