Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of planning matters associated with a site the complainant had occupied. It is reasonable to expect the complainant to have contacted us sooner, we cannot look at the court action the Council took against the complainant, and there is not enough evidence of fault regarding the events in 2019.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of planning matters associated with a site he had occupied.

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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 can investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. And 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)
5. We also cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included copies of their complaint correspondence.
7. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The time restriction detailed in paragraph 4 above applies to Mr X’s complaint. The Council served Mr X with a planning enforcement notice in 2018, followed by an injunction in 2019. Mr X also sought pre-application planning advice in 2019, and attempted to submit planning applications in 2019 and 2020. The Council responded to a Stage 1 complaint about planning issues in mid-2020. Yet Mr X did not contact the Ombudsman until mid-2024.
9. I am mindful that Mr X’s medical conditions and homelessness situation, combined with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, could have hindered his ability to pursue a complaint. But, on balance, I am not persuaded there are sufficient grounds to exercise discretion to look back at events which occurred approximately four years ago.
10. And even if this time restriction did not apply, we would have no power to look at any parts of the complaint about the injunction the Council obtained against Mr X, because the court restriction detailed in paragraph 5 above would apply.
11. Finally, I have seen no evidence of fault in the Council’s handling of the pre‑application advice requests, or Mr X’s attempt to submit planning applications, in 2019 and 2020, so we would not investigate that part of the complaint either.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to have complained to us sooner, we cannot look at the court proceedings related to the injunction, and there is not enough evidence of fault in relation to the handling of the planning advice or applications.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman