Summary
Mr X complains about the Council’s grant of planning permission to a neighbour. We will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council and the matter is out of time.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s grant of planning permission to a neighbour.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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, or 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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
The complainant had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.
My assessment
Mr X says that the Council should not have granted planning permission for a neighbour’s extension at the rear of his house because the separation distance was shorter than the Council normally expects.
The Planning Officer report noted that the separation distance was not in accordance with the minimum distance of 30m (the Council policy) but, as the properties lay at an angle to each other, the effect upon Mr X’s amenity did not warrant refusal of the planning application.
I am satisfied that the Council was fully aware of the position of the properties to each other and they justified the decision not to apply the 30m distance in this case. In the absence of any administrative fault, the Ombudsman cannot question the professional judgement of the Council.
Further, the planning permission was granted in September 2020 which means the complaint to this office is over 12 months. I see no grounds to disapply this rule and so the matter is out of jurisdiction.
Final decision
I do not intend to investigate this complaint because the matter is out of time and there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman