Thurrock Council (25 013 544)
Category : Planning > Enforcement
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Feb 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a lack of enforcement action by the Council against an alleged breach of planning control. Mr X does not live near the site and investigation would be unlikely to find sufficient injustice to him caused by any fault to warrant our further involvement.
The complaint
- Mr X said the Council had failed to take enforcement action against a possible breach of planning control. He said a temporary building had been left on a site for too long. He said he did not like people doing things they should not, and he had had to spend time trying to get it put right.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X does not live close to the site of the alleged breach of planning control, but in another community. Investigation would therefore be unlikely to establish he has been caused sufficient injustice to warrant our further involvement. That he has taken time to pursue the matter with the Council does not affect that.
- Although the Council’s response to Mr X’s complaint was slow, it is not a good use of public resources for us to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are not dealing with the substantive issue.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of injustice caused to him by any fault to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman