The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a development next to Mrs X’s home. This is because the decision to grant planning permission was taken in 2003 and so this is a late complaint and there are no good reasons to investigate now. We will also not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about damage caused to her property because the Council is not responsible for this.
The complaint
Mrs X complains the Council granted planning permission for a new development next to her home. She says the development has a negative impact on her property and work carried out has caused lasting damage to her home.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council granted planning permission for the development next to Mrs X’s home in 2003. Mrs X was aware of the Council’s decision to grant planning permission at the time and has been in contact with the Council about her concerns since that time. Therefore this is a late complaint and we cannot investigate.
We have the power to disregard this restriction where there are good reasons. However I cannot see why Mrs X could not have complained to the Ombudsman sooner if she was unhappy with the Council’s decision. Therefore we will not investigate this complaint.
Mrs X says she is experiencing issues within her property which she believes are connected to work carried out to the development. The Council is not responsible for work carried out by the builder or the developer. This would be a civil matter between Mrs X and the neighbouring properties.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because her complaint about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission is a late complaint. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about damage caused to her property as the Council is not responsible for this.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman