The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to discharge a planning condition. We are unlikely to find fault in the way the Council considered the matter. We will not consider other planning concerns raised by the complainant as it is too late.
The complaint
The complainant, I shall call Mr X, has provided much background information going back decades. He has provided copies of letters from the Council dated 2008 and 2010, which tell him of his right to complain to the Ombudsman. I have seen no reason why Mr X could not have raised his concerns much earlier. I have therefore decided not to consider any matter which he was aware of more than twelve months ago.
My assessment is restricted to the complaint raised by Mr X with the Council in November 2021.
Mr X complained about an application to discharge a planning condition about remedial action to stabilise an embankment. Mr X says the embankment will cause a landslide into his boundary stream and on to his property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complains the embankment is not built correctly. He says it is at risk of slipping down on to his property. He said he commissioned a structural engineer’s report which recommends the embankment should be regraded.
The Council has confirmed the embankment follows the approved plans which are supported by a civil engineer’s report. It says the recommendation for regrading is not stated in any information that it has received. It offered to consider the report from Mr X’s structural engineer.
Mr X did not provide the Council with a copy of his engineer’s report. The Council has therefore had not seen any alternative evidence to show the scheme for the embankment is not appropriate. Therefore, it considers his decision to discharge the planning condition is sound.
From the information I have seen, there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council considered the application to discharge the condition on the embankment. The Council has repeatedly offered to consider Mr X’s structural engineer’s report; however he has not provided a copy.
Without seeing any evidence to the contrary, the Council is entitled to rely on the information provided with the application to discharge the planning condition.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because complaints about events which occurred before November 2021 are too late. I have seen no good reason to investigate events which occurred many years ago.
I have seen no evidence of fault in the way the Council discharged the planning condition on the embankment. Mr X has chosen not to provide a copy of his structural engineer’s report to the Council. Therefore it has not seen any evidence that the information it received is incorrect.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman