Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a licensing matter. This is because the complaint is late and I have not seen good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains about the Council’s handling of her objection to a licence application. She also complains about noise from the business the Council granted a licence to.

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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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I reviewed Mrs X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Mrs X and considered her comments.

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What I found

5. Mrs X objected to a neighbouring business’s license application in 2018. She complains the Council did not properly consider her objection or the licence application and has not properly investigated her complaint about noise from the premises.
6. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. The substantive issue in this case concerns the Council’s actions from more than 12 months before Mrs X’s complaint to the Ombudsman; the complaint is therefore late. Mrs X has explained her reasons for not complaining to us sooner but I do not consider these provide grounds to exercise discretion to investigate this matter. We also cannot say the Council must change the terms of the licence or close the business down, and we cannot direct it to change the staff in its environmental health department as Mrs X would like.
7. While Mrs X is also unhappy about the way the Council has dealt with her complaint, the courts have said that where we cannot investigate a complaint about the main or underlying issue, we cannot normally investigate related issues either. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration in England [2006] EWHC 2847 (Admin)). So, where the substance of a complaint is not subject to investigation, the Ombudsman does not investigate the Council’s handling of the issue in isolation.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is late and I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman