Dover District Council (19 020 151)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 30 Mar 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains that the Council threatened him with planning enforcement action relating to a property he owned. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because he had a right of appeal to a court and he commenced legal action against the Council.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that the Council threatened him with planning enforcement action relating to a property he owned.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered the comments of the complainant and the Council and the complainant has commented on the draft decision.
What I found
- Mr X bought a property to develop as an office in October 2016 and he obtained planning permission to use the building as an office. He says that, after obtaining tenders for the work, he decided to renovate the building in December 2018. However, he says that he was told by a Council office in November 2018 that there had been a complaint about the state of the property.
- The Council issued a notice under Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act to tidy up the site in February 2019. Mr X was told of his right of appeal to a court if he disputed the Council’s notice.
- The Ombudsman would expect any dispute about the service of a legal notice to be appealed to a court. Any complaint about this matter is therefore out of jurisdiction.
- Mr X also threatened legal action against the Council. I consider therefore that it would be reasonable for Mr X seek a remedy through the courts.
Final decision
- I do not intend to investigate this complaint because Mr X could appeal the notice to a court and take action against the Council in the courts.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman