Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate a complaint about how the Council granted planning permission for development in 2017. The complaint is made too late.

The complaint

1. The complainants who I refer to here as Mr B and Mrs C, have complained about how the Council granted planning permission for development close to their home in 2017.

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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. It says 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

3. I have considered what Mr B and Mrs C said in their complaint, which included the Council’s response to their concerns. I have also seen information available on the Council‘s website. Mr B and Mrs C commented on a draft before I made this decision.

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What I found

4. We do not provide an appeal against a council’s decision to grant planning permission. We can only consider if there was some fault in how a council considered an application that it is likely to have affected the outcome.
5. The Council received a planning application in 2017 for development on a site near Mr B and Mrs C’s home. It publicised the application and Mr B and Mrs C commented on it, raising concerns about the impact of their home.
6. In June 2017, the elected Members on the Council’s Planning Committee considered a report setting out the planning issues. The report contained a summary of comments on the application, including those submitted by Mr B and Mrs C.
7. The Council invited Mr B and Mrs C to attend the Committee meeting in June 2017 but they did not do so. The Committee decided in principle to grant planning permission subject to clarification by officers of conditions to be attached. It confirmed the decision in October 2017.
8. Mr B and Mrs C complained to us in January 2020, some 30 months after the Committee’s decision to grant planning permission. They say they were unaware of the impact until building began in 2019. However, I consider they were aware of the likely impact in 2017 and, indeed, commented on this to the Council.
9. Mr B and Mrs C also say the Council misled them when they complained in 2019 because it said the Committee granted planning permission in June 2017 and not October 2017. The Committee did consider the substantive planning issues in June 2017 and agreed to grant permission in principle. I do not consider this provides any reason they could not have complained to us earlier.
10. If they had concerns about how the Council considered the application, they should have raised these with us by June 2018, or by October 2018 at the latest.
11. Mr B and Mrs C also raised concerns about how the Council dealt with an earlier application for the same site in 2015. Notwithstanding issues of time, this application was allowed by the Planning Inspectorate on appeal and so was not affected by any alleged fault by the Council.

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Final decision

12. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint. It is made too late and there is no good reason we should exercise discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman