Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a new dwelling because the complaint is late. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to take enforcement action against his neighbour for breaching the planning permission because there is not enough evidence of fault affecting the decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council granted planning permission for a new dwelling next door which is too big. He complains his neighbour then breached the planning permission and built the new dwelling taller than approved. However the Council has declined to take any formal action to reduce the height of the dwelling

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council granted planning permission for the new dwelling in 2022 and Mr X complained to us in August 2024. Any complaint about this decision is therefore late. I have seen no good reasons for the delay in coming to us so I consider it would have been reasonable for Mr X to complain to us at the time.
7. While Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s enforcement decision is in-time we are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong.
8. The Council has investigated the alleged breach of planning control and found the new dwelling is too tall. However it decided the breach was minor and it would not be ‘expedient’ to take formal action. This is a decision the Council was entitled to take and I have seen nothing to suggest it was affected by any fault in the process. We cannot therefore question it.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman