Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to take enforcement action against a developer’s failure to comply with a planning condition. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the injustice relates to ownership of land which is not affected by the grant of planning permission. Part of the complaint is out of time and part is a private matter.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to take enforcement action against a developer’s failure to comply with a planning condition.

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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 considered the complainant's and Council's comments. The complainant has been given the opportunity to comment before a final decision has been made.

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What I found

5. Mr X owns a second home which is next door to land being developed into three separate buildings. Planning permission was granted in 2011 and 2013. Further planning permission was granted in 2019 for the retention of the buildings as built.
6. Mr X says that there was no planning enforcement of pre commencement planning conditions. He says that he is affected because the developer said he owned land for access which Mr X says is in his possession.
7. Planning permission does not give the applicant any right to build on land not within their ownership. Any trespass by a developer is a private matter for which there is a legal remedy. The Ombudsman would not, therefore, hold the Council responsible for trespass by a developer because it granted planning permission.
8. Any complaint about the first two planning permissions is out of time as I see no reason why a complaint could not have been made to this office within 12 months of the decisions.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council and part of the complaint is out of time.
    

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman