Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to act on Mr X’s concerns regarding planning breaches. The complaint is late. If it were not late, there is no fault in the Council’s actions on the substantive issue and there is not sufficient injustice to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to take action on his reports of planning breaches. He says the planning breaches have caused him anxiety which has led to health issues.

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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 of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether an organisation’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6) and section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and online images of the area.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X contacted the Council in 2019 as he was concerned his neighbour had built a structure without planning permission. He contacted the Council again in 2020 regarding concerns of unauthorised tree cutting. Mr X complains the Council has not taken any enforcement action in relation to these concerns.
8. Mr X contacted us in 2022 with regards to his concerns that no action had been taken. I am persuaded that he would have known the Council had not taken enforcement action in 2020. His complaint to us is therefore late. I see no good reason why he could not have raised the matter with us sooner.
9. If Mr X had raised the matter sooner, it is likely we still would not investigate his complaint. This is because there is no evidence of fault in the Council’s decision-making and there is insufficient evidence of injustice.
10. The Council visited the property and spoke to the relevant parties. It then decided not to take enforcement action. The Council’s reasons show it considered whether there was a planning breach and if so whether permission would have been granted had it been applied for. The Council has, therefore, carried out an appropriate investigation following the reports. There is no evidence of fault. Mr X is unhappy with the outcome, but we cannot question the merits of the Council’s conclusions where there is no fault in the process, as paragraph 3 explained.
11. The Council has accepted it failed to tell Mr X of its decision and has apologised for this. The apology is a reasonable remedy for this fault.
12. Mr X states the patio overlooks his property and he increased the height of his fence to prevent overlooking. Digital imagery available online shows the patio borders Mr X’s property some way down his garden, not directly adjacent to his house and the outlook is not directly towards Mr X’s house. As such, I do not consider the angle or distance of any overlooking significant enough to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late, there is no fault in the Council’s decision and there is insufficient remaining injustice to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman