Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs Q’s complaint about a planning enforcement notice. This is because she has, or could have, appealed to the Planning Inspector.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I have called Mrs Q, complained that West Oxfordshire District Council is taking planning enforcement action against her. She said it refused a planning application and then served an enforcement notice on her for alleged breaches of planning control. She said the Council was victimising her and its actions had delayed renovations of her home.

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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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a government minister. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b))
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a government minister. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b), as amended)
5. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. The Planning Inspector considers appeals about:

• delay – usually over eight weeks – by an authority in deciding an application for planning permission

• a decision to refuse planning permission
• conditions placed on planning permission
• a planning enforcement notice.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information Mrs Q provided. I invited Mrs Q to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

7. Mrs Q is renovating and extending her home. She has planning permission for this. However, the Council does not think the works Mrs Q has done comply with her planning permission.
8. The Council invited Mrs Q to make a new planning application to regularise the works. It refused the application.
9. More recently, the Council has served an enforcement notice on Mrs Q as it believes she is using part of the property to run a business. Mrs Q has appealed to the Planning Inspector.
10. Mrs Q said the Council’s actions had delayed her renovation works. She said it was also costly and had caused difficulties with her mortgage company.

Analysis

11. We will not investigate this complaint.
12. Mrs Q had the right of appeal to the Planning Inspector about the Council’s refusal of her planning application to regularise the works she has done to her property. It is not our role to consider appeals about decisions on planning applications. So it would have been reasonable for Mrs Q to use her right of appeal to the Planning Inspector.
13. Mrs Q has appealed to the Planning Inspector against the enforcement notice she has received. So we cannot investigate this part of the complaint. I explained the reason for this in paragraph 4.

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Final decision

14. We will not and cannot investigate Mrs Q’s complaint for the reasons given in the Analysis.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman