The complaint
Mr X complained the Council failed to enforce a planning condition relating to his and his neighbour’s properties. He said The Council also failed to advise him of the appropriate action to take.
Mr X said the issue caused a breach of his property rights and privacy. He wanted the Council to enforce the planning condition.
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 investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) 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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X’s neighbour took action over ten years ago which Mr X says was not in line with the planning conditions attached to their properties. It was open to Mr X to pursue that with the Council at that time. Instead, he opted to commence legal proceedings against his neighbour.
The law says people should bring complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter. The 12-month timescale in this case would have expired more than ten years ago. The complaint is therefore late and there is not a good reason for us to investigate it.
Mr X’s complaint also included issues with how the Council more recently considered his complaint. As we will not investigate the substantive matter, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council considered his complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s actions relating to a planning condition because there is not a good reason for the delay in bringing the matter to the Ombudsman.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman