Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in deciding his planning application. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mr X to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council delayed in deciding his planning application. He says that as a result he suffered financial loss, stress and upset.

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

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How I considered this complaint

5. I reviewed Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and considered his comments.

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What I found

6. Mr X applied to the Council for planning permission in early 2018. He complains the Council took almost a year to decide the application and as a result he incurred additional expenses and financial loss. The Council accepts some delays and has apologised for these but it has declined to pay Mr X the compensation he wants.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. If Mr X felt the Council had unnecessarily delayed in dealing with his planning application it would have been reasonable for him to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. The appeals process is the mechanism provided to challenge a council’s delay and the law says we cannot investigate complaints about matters which carry a right of appeal to a government minister unless it would have been unreasonable for the person to use it. I have seen nothing to suggest this is the case here and I will not therefore exercise our discretion to investigate the complaint.
8. Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council has dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mr X to appeal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman