Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Authority’s handling of his submissions to a consultation in 2023. This complaint is late and there are no good reasons why we should investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Authority failed to take account of his submission to a consultation in a meaningful way. He also complains about the Authority inviting some people to meet with it and not others. He says the Authority has ignored his correspondence about this matter since then. He believes the Authority’s decisions have detrimentally impacted on his enjoyment of the area.

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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 an authority has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), or section 34B(8)).
5. We will not normally investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), or section 34B(8)).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mr X’s complaint is about a consultation the Authority ran on a management plan in late 2023. The Authority confirmed receipt and responded to Mr X’s comments to the consultation in 2024.
8. Since then, the Authority has responded to Mr X’s concerns about its handling of this matter on at least two further occasions, including a face-to-face meeting with him in March 2025. The Authority issued its final complaint response to Mr X earlier this year, where it explained it would keep his comments and suggestions in mind for the next review of the management plan.
9. We can exercise discretion to consider late complaints if there is good reason to do so. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Mr X has been aware of these issues since at least 2024 if not sooner. Any concerns he continues to have about the Authority’s handling that occurred more than 12 months ago are now too late for us to investigate. I have seen nothing to suggest Mr X could not have brought his complaint to us sooner. Even if we did exercise discretion to investigate this now, it is unlikely we would find enough evidence of fault by the Authority because it does not appear to have ignored Mr X’s submissions as alleged. Mr X’s disagreement with the weight the Authority gave his submissions to the consultation is not evidence of fault.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons why we should investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman