Summary: Mr X complains about the way the Council considered their Local Plan. We will not investigate this complaint because the matter is out of time and for the Planning Inspector. Nor is there evidence of any significant personal injustice to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the way the Council considered their Local Plan.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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)

4. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. The Planning Inspector considers appeals about:

• delay – usually over eight weeks – by an authority in deciding an application for planning permission
• a decision to refuse planning permission
• conditions placed on planning permission
• a planning enforcement notice.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered the comments of the complainant and the Council and the complainant has commented on the draft decision.

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What I found

6. Mr X complains about the way the Council considered their Local Plan. He complained to the Council in 2018 about the disposal of land by the Council and the way the Council considered the land as part of their Local Plan.
7. I consider that Mr X could reasonably have made a complaint to this office within 12 months of the complaint in 2018. The complaint is therefore out of time. Further, any decisions about the evidence included in a Local Plan is a matter for the Planning Inspector on review and not the Ombudsman.
8. Nor is there evidence that Mr X is personally affected by the Council’s action to such significant extent as to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

9. I do not intend to investigate this complaint because the matter is out of time, for the Planning Inspector and there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman