East Riding of Yorkshire Council (21 018 007)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a development. This is because this is a late complaint and there are no good reasons for us to investigate it now.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains the Council has granted planning permission for a development which will have an adverse impact on local wildlife and habitats. Mrs X says the Council failed to consider this and officers put pressure on the planning committee to grant planning permission.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and information about the planning application on the Council’s website.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council granted planning permission for the development in May 2020. Mrs X was aware of this as she commented on the planning application at the time.
- Mrs X did not complain to the Ombudsman until March 2022. Therefore this is a late complaint and we cannot investigate it.
- We have the power to disregard this restriction where there are good reasons for doing so. However, I cannot see any reason why Mrs X could not have complained to the Ombudsman sooner if she was unhappy with the Council’s decision. Therefore we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is a late complaint and there are no good reasons to investigate now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman