Investigation reports

A man claimed Belfast City Council should have asked his neighbour to remove a structure on his driveway.

Although the Council was not required to take action, we found it should have explained to the man why.

We found that a consultation response to a planning application should have been made available on the Planning Portal website.  While this was a record keeping error by the Belfast Planning Service, we found no grounds to question its decision to approve the application.

We investigated a complaint about the way Belfast City Council dealt with claims of a breach of planning control.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council failed to provide an applicant with the reasons why its Planning Committee deferred a decision on his planning application.  An Ombudsman's report was also critical of excessive delays when responding to the applicant's concerns.

The Ombudsman has found that an application to build a residential nursing home in County Down was, in part, incorrectly assessed by planners.

A man’s complaint about how his planning application was dealt with has been partially upheld by the Public Services Ombudsman.