Summary: Mrs X complains about the conduct of planning enforcement officers during a planning enforcement investigation. I have stopped investigating this complaint. No further action is needed as the issue is not one the Ombudsman can deal with.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the conduct of planning enforcement officers during a planning enforcement investigation into the matter of her husband working from their home. Mrs X says:
• they were made to feel like liars by the Council;
• they provided evidence and heard nothing from the Council for ten months;
• an officer was rude and alleged they did not bother to do anything;
• officers got dates and facts wrong in correspondence and did not apologise for their tone;
• a neighbour used CCTV in a bedroom window to record them even though Mrs X told the Council her son has mental health difficulties. Mrs X says the Council encouraged the neighbour and then used footage obtained from the neighbour.

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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. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of a government minister. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I examined the complaint and background information provided to the Ombudsman. I discussed matters with Mrs X by telephone. I sent a draft decision statement to Mrs X and the Council and invited the comments of both parties on it.

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What I found

6. Mrs X’s husband worked from their home for over 13 years. In 2018, the Council received a complaint and so initiated a planning enforcement investigation. The enforcement investigation culminated in an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against an enforcement notice served by the Council. Mrs X complains about officers’ conduct over the course of the investigation.
7. However, the complaint is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction because Mrs X and her husband had and used a right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against the enforcement notice.
8. Where a complainant has exercised a right of appeal, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction. The courts have held this to be the case even if the appeal may not provide or have provided a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed by the complainant.
9. So even though the appeal to the Planning Inspectorate did not provide a remedy for Mrs X’s grievance about the conduct of officers, the Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint because it is caught by the legal restriction.

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Final decision

10. I closed this complaint as it is not a matter the Ombudsman can address.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman