Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to take enforcement action against a development close to his home. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider it now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to take enforcement action against a neighbouring development.
2. Mr X said he complained to the Council about the issue in April 2021 but it did not respond to him.
3. Mr X said the development poses a safety risk and may reduce the value of his property.

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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)
6. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Mr X wrote to the Council in April 2021 to complain about a neighbouring development.
10. Mr X said he also communicated with councillors about the issue in and around 2024.
11. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman about the issue in August 2026.
12. As outlined in paragraph five, we cannot investigate late complaints without good reasons. A late complaint is where a person has known about a matter for more than 12 months.
13. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman over five years after he first knew about the development. I cannot see any good reasons why he could not have complained to us sooner. For this reason, we will not investigate this complaint.
14. As we will not investigate the substantive matters of the complaint, we will not investigate the Council’s handling of the complaint because it is not proportionate to do so.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman