Summary: Miss D says the Council has failed to progress her reports of alleged planning breaches at a site near her home. The Ombudsman has found evidence of fault by the Council. He has upheld the complaint and completed the investigation because the Council agrees to the recommended actions including financial redress and progression of the case.

The complaint

1. The complainant (whom I refer to as Miss D) says the Council has failed to progress a planning enforcement investigation following her reports of alleged planning breaches at a site near her home.

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What I have investigated

2. I have looked at the Council’s actions from November 2018 onwards which is 12 months prior to Miss D contacting the Ombudsman. I have not looked at earlier events for the reasons below.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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)
4. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered the information provided by Miss D. I have also asked the Council questions and considered its response.
7. I shared my draft decision with both parties.

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What I found

What happened

8. The case files provided by the Council show very limited actions. In November 2018 Miss D emailed the Council asking for an update on the planning breaches she had reported earlier that year. At the end of the month she emailed a formal complaint to the Council about its inaction. There is no evidence the complaint was logged or dealt with.
9. In February 2019 the Council received a complaint about the same site from another resident. In March the Council notified the tenant at the site about planning breaches. At the start of April, the Council said it would consult its Development Control Manager to see what further action should be taken.
10. There are no other entries on the case record.

What should have happened

11. When the Council receives a report about an alleged planning breach a Planning Enforcement Officer will consider the case. They should contact the complainant and the site owner/ tenant. The Council will advise the complainant about progress “at significant stages throughout the process”. It will also tell the complainant when formal action is taken, or the case is closed.
12. When the Council receives a service complaint it should be logged and responded to within 20 working days.

Was there fault by the Council

13. The Council has failed to progress this case from November 2018 onwards. The evidence provided by the Council shows no significant actions, except for contact with the tenant in March 2019. I cannot see the Council followed up its contact with the tenant about breaches it had possibly identified. I also cannot see any evidence of the Council updating Miss D as it is required. The lack of action on this matter is unacceptable.
14. I also see the Council failed to log or respond to Miss D’s formal complaint in November 2018. It gives no reason why this fault occurred. Again, this is not acceptable. The Council also failed to provide a sufficient or timely response to two separate enquiries on this case from the Ombudsman.

Did the fault cause an injustice

15. Miss D has been waiting since November 2018 for a reply to her complaint and an update on the planning enforcement investigation. She has incurred avoidable distress because of the uncertainty of what action was taken by the Council.

Agreed action

16. The Council has accepted with me that it failed to keep Miss D updated or respond to her complaint. It says it will now provide updates. It also states that, partly because of this case, it will take steps to separate out the files on this matter for better monitoring. In addition, it offers Miss D £150 for service failure.
17. Whilst I am pleased the Council recognises the failures in this case, I asked it to consider:
• Paying Miss D an additional £300 for the distress, caused by delay and poor case handling;
• Paying Miss D the offered £150 for time and trouble;
• Writing to Miss D within four weeks of this case closing with an apology and details of what will happen next to progress the planning enforcement case. The Council should send me a copy of this letter;
• Detailing to me what actions will be taken to improve planning enforcement case handling and complaint handling within four weeks of this case closing.
18. The Council has agreed to those recommendations.

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Final decision

19. I have upheld the complaint and completed the investigation.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

20. I have not looked at events prior to November 2018 because we expect a complaint to be made to us within 12 months as set out above.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman