Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to adopt an area of public open space close to the complainant’s home or that it failed to take enforcement action when developers felled trees on the area. This is because these matters happened too long ago, and I see no good reason why a complaint could not have been made sooner.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mrs X, complains that the Council failed to ensure an area of open public space was adopted after a developer completed building work on the estate where Mrs X lives. Mrs X says the Council also failed to take enforcement action when the developer felled trees on the land in 2018 and 2020.

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

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My assessment

6. Planning approval for the estate where Mrs X lives was granted in late 2001. Mrs X visited the development in 2002 and subsequently purchased her home on the understanding that a public open space close to her home would be landscaped and adopted by the Council. However, this did not happen.
7. Mrs X says that in 2018 and 2020, the developers felled trees on the site leaving debris behind. In August 2022, Mrs X complained.
8. The developers erected fencing around the land which led to enforcement action being taken by the Council which concluded with the Planning Inspectorate dismissing an appeal against the Council which led to the fencing being removed. The Planning Inspectorate concluded that the developer did not have a duty to maintain the land.
9. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaints about the adoption of the land or about how it dealt with the felling of the trees. This is because these complaints are made late. Mrs X had been aware of the issues surrounding the maintenance and adoption of the land since shortly after she moved into her property in 2003. Mrs X was also aware that the developers had felled trees in 2018 and 2020. I see no good reason why she could not have complained about these matters before now.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is made late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman