Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about planning enforcement. This is because part of the complaint is late. We are unlikely to find fault in relation to the remaining issues complained about. It is also not yet possible to say if Mrs Y has suffered significant injustice because of any fault with the Council’s ongoing enforcement investigations.

The complaint

1. Mrs Y complains that the Council failed to take enforcement action against her neighbour.
2. She says she has reported several planning breaches, and the Council has not acted on these. She also says it has failed to take action after the deadline for compliance with an enforcement notice passed.
3. Mrs Y says the Council’s failure to act has disrupted her daily life and left her feeling unsupported.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
6. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Mrs Y and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

9. Mrs Y says her neighbour has not followed planning laws, adding structural developments without the correct permissions. This has been ongoing for several years, with Mrs Y reporting breaches to the Council.
10. There are several parts to Mrs Y’s complaint. We cannot investigate all parts of her complaint because:

• It has been over 12 months since some of these enforcement cases were closed. Mrs Y knew about the breaches at the time and the Council’s decisions to close the enforcement cases. I see no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate these matters now as Mrs Y could have complained to the Ombudsman sooner.
• Some of the enforcement cases are still ongoing. This includes the case where the Council has served an enforcement notice. As the investigations have not concluded, it is not yet possible to say if Mrs Y has suffered any significant injustice because of any fault with the Council’s investigations. The Council may still decide further formal action is not needed Mrs Y can make a new complaint if she remains unhappy, after the Council has concluded its enforcement investigations.

11. I have considered Mrs Y’s concerns about the Council’s recent decision to not take enforcement action against her neighbour. Mrs Y contacted the Council to report the unauthorised conversion of a building into flats. She also said a development had not been built in line with approved plans as it was higher than it should be. The Council investigated the possible breaches and l decided not to take enforcement action. It explained its reasons to Mrs Y.
12. The Council was entitled to use its professional judgement. Councils do not have to take enforcement action, even when there has been a breach. I understand Mrs Y may disagree. But our role is not to ask whether an organisation could have done things better, or whether we agree or disagree with what it did. Instead, we look at whether there was fault in how it made its decisions. If we decide there was no fault in how it did so, we cannot ask whether it should have made a particular decision or say it should have reached a different outcome.
13. As the Council properly considered if it should take enforcement action, we are unlikely to find fault in its action to justify investigating.

Back to top

Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint because:

• We are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision to not take enforcement action, and
• Part of Mrs Y’s complaint is about enforcement action that concluded over 12 months ago, and we cannot investigate this because it is late.

15. It is not yet possible to determine if Mrs Y has suffered significant injustice because of any fault with the Council’s ongoing enforcement investigations.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman