Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for new development behind his property. This is because the complaint is late and Mr X’s injustice does not result from the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for development which backs onto his property. He says the development obscures his view, affects the enjoyment of his property and reduces parking spaces. He is also concerned it will devalue his home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

3. 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

4. I reviewed Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and invited his comments.

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What I found

5. The Council granted planning permission for a new development in 2017. In 2018 Mr X purchased a property which backs onto the site of the new development. Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s decision to grant planning permission and says the new development will affect his view, cause difficulties in accessing his garage, reduce parking spaces and devalue his property.
6. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. Mr X purchase his property after the Council granted planning permission; he was aware of the decision at the time, meaning any complaint about it is late, and he is only now affected by it as a result of his decision to purchase the property. His claimed injustice is therefore not the direct result of the Council’s decision, whether or not it was properly reached.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is late and Mr X’s claimed injustice results form his decision to buy his property, rather than from the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman