46 annual report 2010 SECTION 19 OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ACT At the Parliamentary Ombudsman, we therefore had to investigate whether the local authority and the Regional State Administration were correct in assuming that the neighbours were not entitled to be heard as parties. Section 19 of the Public Administration Act includes rules stating when an authority must submit information in a case to party hearing. Pursuant to this rule, a party to a case is only required to be heard about specific information concerning the facts of the case, and only information which is detrimental to the relevant party and of significant importance to the decision on the case. If the party in question is already aware that certain information is included in the authority’s processing of the case, it is not necessary to hear the party about this information either. In the case, the Ombudsman stated that the local authority should have heard the residents of the neighbouring property as parties before issuing planning permission. In this connection, it was not relevant that the local authority expected the neighbours to attach importance to information that their property would be overlooked by the new build if they had been heard as parties. The local authority had argued that the issue of the property being overlooked was to be considered in accordance with the rules of the town planning bylaw, which had been met, and the Ombudsman agreed. However, he emphasised that the local authority should have assessed which information in the case would significantly influence its decision on planning permission and ensured that the parties were heard about this information. In addition, the Ombudsman pointed out that, pursuant to section 19 of the Public Administration Act, the Regional State Administration’s information that the local authority could not refuse planning permission was not significant. The Ombudsman further believed that the residents of the neighbouring property would not necessarily have been unable to influence the local authority’s decision if they had been heard as parties, as the Building Act and the Planning Act contain special rules enabling the local authority to influence or possibly completely block a building project. Finally, the Ombudsman pointed out that both legal practice and Ombudsman practice take for their basis that a local authority may be obliged to inform a party to a case if the party is not aware that the case is being processed by the authority. BOTH HEARING OF PARTIES AND BRIEFING OF NEIGHBOURS In this case, the local authority should have heard the neighbours as parties, but it was not obliged to brief the neighbours as the building project did not require dispensation from the building or planning legislation.