Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s pre-application planning advice. This is because the complaint is late and I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s pre-application planning advice between late 2019 and early 2020. He says the Council failed to advise him that its policy precluded the possibility of obtaining planning permission for his proposal, resulting in thousands of pounds worth of unnecessary expenditure.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in providing written pre-application advice dates back to late 2019/early 2020, which is more than two years before his complaint to us; the complaint is therefore late.
6. Mr X’s complaint about the content of the pre-application is more recent but it is also late. Mr X knew about the issue with the advice in January 2021 and complained about it to the Council at the time. I note the complaints process took several months to conclude but the Council’s final response is dated 26 November 2021 and this referred Mr X to us. It also explained Mr X had 12 months to make a complaint to us, “starting from the date you first knew about the matter you complained about, not from the date of this letter.” But despite this Mr X did not raise his complaint with us until more than seven months later, in July 2022.
7. I have seen no good reasons for the delay or to show that it would not have been reasonable to expect Mr X to refer his complaint to us within our 12-month time limit. I have therefore decided not to exercise our discretion to investigate the late complaints.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman