The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with planning applications for a development near the complainant’s home. This is because parts of the complaint are late. The complainant has not suffered significant injustice as a result of the remaining issues complained about.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, has complained about how the Council dealt with a planning application for a development near his home. Mr X says the development is too close to his property and has a significant impact on his home. Mr X says the Council has failed to protect his amenity and he believes he has been discriminated against. Mr X says the development should be removed or repositioned away from his home.
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, 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 Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X has complained about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the development. However, I consider Mr X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with the original application late. A complaint is late if it has taken someone more than 12 months to complain to the Ombudsman. The Council granted permission for the development some years ago. Mr X knew about the application and objected at the time. I see no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate now as Mr X could have complained to the Ombudsman sooner.
I have considered Mr X’s concerns about the more recent applications for the site. The Council accepts it did not notify Mr X about an application to extend the building and further applications to vary the approved plans.
However, I cannot say Mr X has been caused any significant injustice in this regard. I am satisfied the case officer did consider the impact on neighbouring properties before approving the applications. The Council also further explained in response to Mr X’s complaint why it considered the amended development would not have an unacceptable impact on his property.
I understand Mr X disagrees, but the Council was entitled to use its professional judgement to decide the proposals were acceptable. As the Council properly considered the acceptability of the development, it is likely the planning decisions would be the same had Mr X known about the applications and objected.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because parts of the complaint are late. Mr X has not suffered significant injustice in relation to the remaining issues complained about.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman