Summary: The Council was at fault for delay issuing a planning enforcement notice on a business near Mr X’s home. He said noise from the business disturbed his sleep. The fault caused Mr X frustration and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to serve a planning enforcement notice on a nearby business which did not have planning permission. He also complained the Council failed to properly address his complaint.
2. Mr X said the business is unsightly and noisy, which affected his sleep. He said it impacted his property’s value.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may recommend a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)
5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
6. 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)

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

7. As I have said above, we cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
8. Mr X complained to us in July 2025 about events going back to 2023.
9. I have considered Mr X’s reasons for bringing his complaint to us more than 12 months after he first knew about it. I have not found good reasons to exercise our discretion and investigate more than 12 months before he complained to us.
10. The Council decided to issue a planning enforcement notice in December 2024. I consider this an appropriate stage in the planning enforcement process to begin this investigation.
11. For this reason, I have investigated the Council’s actions from December 2024 to May 2026, when it issued the planning enforcement notice.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

12. I considered the information and documents provided by Mr X and the Council. I spoke to Mr X about his complaint. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on an earlier draft of this statement. I considered all comments received before I reached a final decision.
13. I considered the relevant legislation, statutory guidance, strategies and policies, set out below. I also considered the Ombudsman’s published guidance on remedies.

Back to top

What I found

What should have happened

Planning enforcement

14. Councils can take enforcement action if they find a breach of planning rules.
15. Councils have a range of options available to them for formal planning enforcement action. One of these options is a planning enforcement notice. This is where there is evidence of a breach and the council can require action to remedy it.
16. The Council’s planning enforcement strategy says it must use its resources effectively. The strategy says the Council will prioritise cases that allege significant or irreparable harm to listed buildings, protected landscapes or protected trees. The strategy says it is likely that planning enforcement cases which are not a priority will take longer, due to resource issues.
17. In February 2026, the Ombudsman published a focus report: ‘Losing control: complaints about planning enforcement’. This says:

“Any delay in action being taken will likely have a negative impact, not just to the service itself, but also the public perception of that service. Public trust, once lost, can be difficult to regain.”

Complaint handling

18. The Council’s complaints policy says each department will have an officer and deputy who are responsible for handling complaints. It says people can complain in any way and with any member of staff.
19. The policy says all staff should be aware of the complaints process and be able to pass the complaint to the appropriate person within the Council.

What happened

20. Mr X lives close to a site where a business operated without the appropriate planning permission.
21. In December 2024, the Council decided to serve a planning enforcement notice on the business. The planning enforcement team passed the matter to the Council's legal department to compile and issue the notice.
22. In spring 2025, Mr X complained the Council had not served the planning enforcement notice.
23. The Council explained that this planning enforcement case was not a high-priority case. It said compiling and serving a planning enforcement notice is a time-consuming process. The Council said it would tell Mr X when it had served the planning enforcement notice.
24. In May 2026, the Council served the planning enforcement notice. It told Mr X it had done this.

Analysis

Enforcement

25. Mr X complained the Council failed to serve an enforcement notice on a nearby business which did not have planning permission.
26. The Council decided to issue the planning enforcement notice in December 2024. It issued the notice in May 2026, nearly 18 months later.
27. The Council accepted there was a delay. It told us the reason for the delay was, in part, because more than half of its planning enforcement team was either on long-term sick leave at the time or had left the Council.
28. I recognise the Council’s planning enforcement strategy sets out different priority levels, and therefore which cases get dealt with first. However, I find it is likely that, with more staff, there would not have been such a delay for a low-priority case like this.
29. I have taken into account the nature of this enforcement case. I consider six months - from decision to issuing a planning enforcement notice - is a reasonable time to take this action.
30. In this case, if the Council had issued the planning enforcement notice within six months of making its decision, this would have been June 2025. However, the Council issued the planning enforcement notice in May 2026, nearly a year after this.
31. I find this delay is fault. I find this fault caused Mr X uncertainty and frustration. This is injustice.
32. The Council said its planning enforcement team is nearly fully staffed again, and it is recruiting. I am satisfied with the action the Council has taken. For this reason, I have not proposed any service improvements.

Complaint handling

33. Mr X complained the Council failed to properly address his complaint. He said he complained to the Council’s legal department, but they did not respond to him directly. He said the legal department passed his complaint back to the planning enforcement team.
34. As I have set out above, each Council department has staff who are responsible for handling complaints about their department. People can complain to anyone in the Council, and all staff should be able to pass the complaint to the appropriate person in the appropriate department.
35. Mr X complained to the legal department about delays in the Council’s planning enforcement. Therefore, according to the Council’s policy, the legal department should have forwarded Mr X’s complaint to the planning enforcement team. This is what happened.
36. I find the Council acted in line with its complaints procedure. I therefore do not find the Council at fault.

Back to top

Action

37. Within four weeks of this decision, the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X in writing for the frustration and uncertainty caused by the fault.
38. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance when making this apology.
39. Within four weeks of this decision, the Council has agreed to make a payment of £200 to Mr X. In reaching this amount, I considered our published guidance on remedies, the length of time involved, and the level of injustice caused by the fault. I find that £200 is an appropriate and proportionate remedy.
40. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

41. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to take actions to remedy injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman