The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about planning enforcement. Events prior to 2023 are late and there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s recent actions to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has refused to take appropriate enforcement action against unauthorised development of land near his home.
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) We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council including evidence from site visits in 2019 and 2023.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Councils can take enforcement action if they find planning rules have been breached. Action is discretionary but can include the issue of a planning enforcement notice which requires the landowner to act to rectify the alleged breach. The Planning Inspectorate considers appeals about planning enforcement notices.
Planning enforcement action is subject to statutory time limits. A council may not take planning enforcement action in the following circumstances: there was development on, over or under land without permission, no enforcement action may be taken after 4 years from the date of the breach; there was a change of use of a building to a use as a single dwelling house, no enforcement action may be taken after 4 years from the date of the breach; or for any other breach, no enforcement action may be taken after 10 years from the date of the breach.
Mr X has complained to the Council for several years about unauthorised development on a neighbour’s land. We will not investigate the Council’s actions before 2023. This is because these complaints are late. If Mr X was dissatisfied with the Council’s actions before 2023, there is no good reason why he could not have approached us earlier.
The Council’s planning enforcement team visited the neighbour’s property in 2023. It decided there was some unauthorised development and issued an enforcement notice to require the neighbour to remove a building from the land. The neighbour appealed the decision to the Planning Inspectorate. The Council has told Mr X that if the Planning Inspector rejects the appeal, it will ensure the building is removed.
The Council accepted there was other unauthorised development but decided it could not take enforcement action as the structures had been present for more than 4 years. The Council reached its decision by comparing existing structures with photographs taken during a previous Council visit in 2019.
We will not investigate this complaint. The Council has appropriately considered Mr X’s concerns and explained to him how it has reached its decisions. The Council has taken the enforcement action it considers appropriate and is satisfied that other development Mr X complains about has been present for more than 4 years and is therefore immune from enforcement action. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman