The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s grant of planning permission for development of her neighbour’s property in 2020/21. This is because the complaint is late and I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it.
The complaint
The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council’s decisions to grant planning permission for development at her neighbour’s property between 2020 and 2021 are inconsistent with a more recent decision to refuse planning permission for development at another property in the area.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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’.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
While Ms X’s complaint references a recent decision to refuse planning permission the injustice she claims stems from the Council’s decisions in 2020 and 2021. Ms X was aware of these decisions and complained to the Council about them at the time. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaints and referred Ms X to us but Ms X did not complain to us until October 2024. The complaint is therefore some two years late.
The Ombudsman has discretion to investigate late complaints but I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion in this case. Ms X was aware of her ability to complain to us in 2022 and told the Council she would do so if she did not get a satisfactory response. The Council’s recent decision to refuse another similar application does not provide good reasons for the delay as it is not relevant to the earlier decision.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is late and I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it outside our normal time limits.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman