Council to amend legal services referral process after critical LGO report

Cornwall Council has agreed to amend its legal services referral forms amongst other actions following an Ombudsman report criticising the authority’s handling of planning enforcement for an equestrian development.

The complainant, Mrs Z, lived in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. She complained to the Local Government Ombudsman that the council did not reach appropriate planning enforcement decisions when her neighbour, Ms Y, put horses and carried out equestrian development on her agricultural land without planning permission.

The LGO’s investigation found that members of Cornwall’s planning committee decided Ms Y could keep horses on the land but ownership and use should be restricted to the neighbour and her family, to prevent commercial use.

The report, which can be viewed here, concluded that councillors were not given the relevant legal advice, nor told of officers’ concerns about the decision, so they could weigh up the differing views.

The council did not properly record subsequent decisions, “especially whether enforcement action should be less restrictive than that authorised by the planning committee”.

The report said: “Cornwall served an enforcement notice on Ms Y, but this was not as restrictive as members had intended as it did not restrict who owned and used horses on the land.”

Ms Y subsequently let the equestrian facilities to tenants who used them more intensively than she had done.

Finding fault found causing injustice, the Ombudsman, Dr Jane Martin, recommended that Cornwall amend its legal services referral forms to require copies of relevant committee decisions.

She also said the local authority should:

• review all of the planning enforcement issues complained about for the site;
• within three months prepare a report for planning committee members to consider the options available for enforcement action;
• review its process to make sure members receive copies of earlier reports and decisions for planning enforcement matters when decisions are deferred and that the updating report refers to them; and
• ensure that recorded decisions properly reflect the report recommendations they are referring to.

The LGO added that Cornwall should apologise to Mrs Z and pay her £400 “for her uncertainty that enforcement action could have been different and avoided significant disturbance to her, and for the undue time and trouble she was put to in trying to understand the position and complaining about the events on site”.

Dr Jane Martin said: “The complainant has had to raise concerns with the council over many months to establish the proper use of the land next to her home, because of the way Cornwall Council administered planning meetings. This led to many months of uncertainty over what should be happening on the land.

"I recommend that the council re-examine its processes to ensure that these sort of planning errors are not made again.”

A spokeswoman for Cornwall said: “We note the findings of the Local Government Ombudsman with regard to this case and will be implementing the recommendations as set out.”