Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to take planning enforcement action. The complaint is late. It was reasonable to expect Mr X to have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council refused to take enforcement action after building work on a neighbouring property did not correlate to the planning permission.
2. Mr X said this caused distress.
3. Mr X wants the Council to take enforcement action, review its processes and acknowledge the distress and frustration he has experienced.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mr X.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone becomes aware of the matter they wished to complain about, not when they complained to the Council.
9. Mr X has been aware of the matter since 2023, with the Council responding to his complaint about it in 2024.
10. We cannot investigate this complaint. The complaint is late. It was reasonable to expect Mr X to have complained to us sooner. I have considered all the information Mr X has provided. However, I am not persuaded that we should disapply the law to investigate his complaint now.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late, and it was reasonable to have expected him to complain to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman