Mr A’s story
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Mr A has a footpath on his land that he allows members of the public to use. The local council decided that the footpath should become a public right of way, to allow members of the public to use the footpath without Mr A’s permission. Mr A challenged that decision. The Planning Inspectorate arranged a public inquiry to determine whether Mr A’s footpath should become a public right of way. The Planning Inspectorate suggested that the inquiry take place either on 25 May or 2 June 2011. When those dates were unsuitable, the Planning Inspectorate rescheduled the public inquiry for 31 May. Mr A arranged for a professional land access consultant to represent him at the public inquiry.
Mr A and his representative attended the public inquiry on 31 May, but the planning inspector failed to attend. The inquiry was cancelled because he was not there.
The Planning Inspectorate realised that they had not updated the planning inspector’s diary when they changed the date of the public inquiry.
Mr A wrote to the Planning Inspectorate and said that the error had caused him inconvenience, and that his representative’s fee of £3,970 had been wasted. Mr A asked the Planning Inspectorate to pay his costs. The Planning Inspectorate apologised for their error but said they would not pay Mr A’s costs because it was not appropriate for them to make such a payment in a time of financial constraint. The Planning Inspectorate said they would make a payment if they received a recommendation from the Ombudsman.
After the Ombudsman’s investigation, the Planning Inspectorate apologised to Mr A, paid his costs of £3,970 with interest, and £500 for the inconvenience they had caused him.
