NEIGHBOURS AS PARTIES TO BUILDING CASES In some cases, the local authority is, however, obliged to follow both the rules on hearing the parties and those on briefing the neighbours. This applied to a case published in the Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, 1995, p. 221. In this case, a local authority had briefed the neighbours because the builder had applied for dispensation from a local plan. However, in his statement the Ombudsman pointed out that the briefing of the neighbours did not appear to comply fully with the party hearing requirements of the Public Administration Act. Moreover, the grounds given by the local authority did not comply with the requirements of section 24 of the Public Administration Act. In other words, the Ombudsman took for his basis that the party hearing requirements of the Public Administration Act must be met, even if the local authority has briefed the neighbours. The other rules of the Public Administration Act must also be followed, including the rules concerning the giving of grounds. In his statement, the Ombudsman emphasised that the party status issue must be determined on the basis of the general rules of public administration law. In other words, it cannot be assumed that as a general rule people who must be briefed about a dispensation application pursuant to section 20 of the Planning Act are not parties to the case. These cases illustrate that when considering a building case which involves neighbours’ interests, a local authority must consult both the rules on briefing neighbours and the rules on the hearing of parties when assessing whether the neighbours must be heard. 47