Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s granting of planning permission for a housing estate built in 2015 from which Mr X says rainwater drainage floods his property. This is because the Council’s consideration of the planning application for the development falls outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and because road drainage issues are for the County Council’s Highways Department to consider.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council ignored regulations when it granted planning permission for a housing estate built in 2015 close to his home. He says as a result his property is affected by rainwater flooding caused by drainage from the estate.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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 provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

7. Mr X complained to the Council about flooding to his property which he believes is caused by rainwater drainage from a housing development built in 2015. The Council explained drainage inspections had been carried out in 2015 and 2016 in accordance with the Building Regulations but that it could not comment on the lifetime performance of drainage. It had told Mr X during a visit by its Environmental Health Team that the issue fell outside its land drainage policy and that the road in question was owned by the housing developer to which it made a request for the gullies to be cleaned.
8. The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to issues Mr X has been aware of for over 12 months. They fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time as we would reasonably have expected Mr X to have complained to us about them sooner.
9. Moreover, given the time the estate has been in existence, drainage issues would not now be considered by the Council under planning and building regulations and instead they can be raised with the County Council’s Highways Department and the road owner.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X ’s complaint because the Council’s consideration of the planning application for the development falls outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and because road drainage issues are for the County Council’s Highways Department to consider.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman