Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her planning applications. This is because her claimed injustice stems from the Council’s decisions and if she disputed these it would have been reasonable for her to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains about the Council’s handling of her planning applications. She says the matter has caused her stress.

Back to top

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)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a government minister. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal but cannot investigate if the person has already appealed. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b))
5. 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.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I reviewed the information provided by Mrs X and considered the Council’s online planning case files. I shared my draft decision with Mrs X and discussed the case with her.

Back to top

What I found

7. Mrs X made five applications to the Council’s planning department in 2018 to move various outbuildings on her land. She withdrew one application when the Council told her it would not be successful, the Council approved two and refused the other two. She has appealed against one of the two refused applications.
8. Mrs X is unhappy with the Council’s handling of her applications. She also disputes the Council’s reasons for refusing the two unsuccessful applications. She complains about the conduct of council officers who dealt with the case, says the Council delayed in dealing with one of the applications and complains a local councillor refused to call one application in for consideration by the planning committee.
9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. It is not for us to decide whether the Council’s decisions to refuse Mrs X’s applications were correct; this is the role of the Planning Inspectorate.
10. Where Mrs X has appealed against the Council's decision to refuse her application we cannot investigate any complaint about its actions (or those of its officers) in connection with, or having a bearing on, its decision.
11. Where Mrs X has not appealed against the Council’s decision but disputes its reasons or claims delay in excess of the statutory time limit for the deciding the application, it would have been reasonable for her to appeal. Any complaint about the Council’s handling of Mrs X’s first application is also late.
12. Mrs X says the Council’s officers were rude and failed to answer her correspondence but it is unlikely we could effectively investigate this aspect of her complaint so long after the event or that we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for her by doing so. Her claimed injustice lies in the Council’s decisions or proposed decisions on her planning applications and we cannot say these were wrong.
13. While Mrs X is also unhappy about the way the Council has dealt with her complaint, the courts have said that where we cannot investigate a complaint about the main or underlying issue, we cannot normally investigate related issues either. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration in England [2006] EWHC 2847 (Admin)). So, where the substance of a complaint is not subject to investigation, the Ombudsman does not investigate the Council’s handling of the issue in isolation.

Back to top

Final decision

14. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mrs X’s claimed injustice stems from the Council’s decisions on her planning applications and she had a right of appeal for this which it would have been reasonable for her to use.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman