Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council dealt with planning applications for a neighbour. We will not investigate this complaint because it is partly out of time and there is no personal significant injustice caused to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the way the Council dealt with planning applications for a neighbour.

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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 comments of the complainant and the Council and the complainant has commented on the draft decision.

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What I found

5. Mr X made a pre-planning application for advice as to whether he could develop his property in 2018. He says that he was told he would have to submit further information as part of his planning application in order for it to succeed. He did not pursue his planning application.
6. The Ombudsman would not investigate any disagreement about advice received in relation to this application as it is out of time. Further, he could have appealed any final decision to a Planning Inspector had he pursued the matter.
7. Mr X complains about the way the Council considered planning applications from a neighbour. The planning applications date back to 2008 and are out of time for investigation. One planning permission was granted in 2020 for a neighbour’s extension. However, there is no evidence that there is any effect upon Mr X’s amenity from the approval of this planning permission given the distance between the properties.

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Final decision

8. I do not intend to investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of significant personal injustice caused to Mr X to warrant investigation and part of the complaint is out of time.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman