The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with the complainant’s planning application. This is because the complainant could have appealed to the Planning Inspector.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has provided poor service with a lack of timely responses and errors in planning processes over the last four years.
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 law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference, or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. The Planning Inspector considers appeals about: Delay – usually over eight weeks – by an authority in deciding an application for planning permission A decision to refuse planning permission Conditions placed on planning permission A planning enforcement notice.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says the Council has provided a poor service over the last four years. I have seen no reason why he could not have raised any complaints he may have had about the service he received much sooner. For this reason, we will not consider matters which occurred more that twelve months ago as complaints about these are late.
We will not consider this complaint as Mr X could have appealed to the Planning Inspector against failure to determine the application. Also, should the Council refuse the application, he will have a right to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
The Ombudsman will not usually investigate complaints when someone had a right to appeal to the Planning Inspector, even if the appeal would not have addressed all the issues complained about. The courts have supported this position.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because: complaints about matters occurring more than a year ago are late and there is no reason why Mr X could have raised these much sooner it would have been reasonable for him to use his right to appeal to the Planning Inspector against non-determination of his planning application; and it is reasonable to expect him to appeal to the Planning Inspector should his application be refused.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman