Summary: Mrs X complains about the Council’s refusal to take enforcement action against a neighbour’s development. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the matter is out of time and there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s refusal to take enforcement action against a neighbour’s development.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered the complainant's comments and the Council's comments and Mrs X has commented on the draft decision.

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What I found

5. Mrs X complains that a neighbour has erected a garage and gates without planning permission and the Council has failed to take action to remove them.
6. The Council says that the garage and gates have been in place for some years and are now immune from enforcement action.
7. Mrs X says that the gates and garage mean that the neighbour can use the access lane and land which she says the neighbour does not own.
8. Any trespass over land is a private matter (planning permission does not provide any right to use land outside of the control of the applicant).
9. I am not persuaded that the position of the garage and gates causes any significant personal injustice to Mrs X such as to warrant investigation. There is no overlooking, loss of light or any other loss of amenity caused by the garage and gates. Nor am I persuaded that a complaint could not have been made to this office within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the matter is out of time and there is insufficient personal injustice to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman