This blog post relates to a report by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO). See the link at the bottom. In particular, it deals with how a Council deals with its s106 planning obligations.
The LGO investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure,’ referred to as fault. The LGO also considers whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the complainant, termed as ‘injustice.’ If significant injustice is found, or if there is potential for future injustice, the LGO may suggest a remedy. It strikes me that this report is unusual because the fault found did not appear to create injustice specifically in relation to the complainant. Nevertheless, the LGO made a recommendation to the Council that they should improve their procedures so that a reoccurrence of the fault is “less likely”.
When Councils grant planning permission, this can be subject to a planning condition requiring the applicant to enter into a s106 agreement, a legally binding deed. This LGO report discusses how contributions required in a particular s106 agreement were monitored, or rather, not monitored.
The Complaint
A local resident alleged the Council didn’t enforce a s106 agreement to deliver a promised public benefit. The LGO investigated the complaint and found fault due to missing records in the Council’s planning register. The Council has agreed to review its practices and procedures to prevent similar faults in the future and has accepted the LGO’s recommendations.
According to the LGO’s report, the original s106 agreement was signed nearly two decades ago. Understandably, it’s unlikely that further investigation could yield a clear finding of what went wrong.
The investigation revealed that the Council has an officer responsible for monitoring financial obligations under s106 agreements. Non-financial obligations are handled by relevant departments on a case-by-case basis. In this case, it was a non-financial obligation.
Recommendations and Agreed Actions
The Council agreed to:
- Conduct a review within three months from the final decision date.
- Share the review outcome and any changes with the Council’s Oversight and Scrutiny Committee within one month of completing the review.
- Provide evidence of compliance with these actions.
These matters occurred many years ago. It seems clear that the long-term effects of not enforcing the s106 agreement must have had a serious impact on the vicinity of the development. All in all, we can only hope that the Council’s document management is tidier now!
To view the LGO’s report in more detail, please visit this page:
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/planning/other/24-001-693
As town and country planning solicitors, Fortune Green Legal Practice advises clients on all aspects of town and country planning law.
