Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council in relation to the complainant’s request to remove his land from the Green Belt. This is because parts of the complaint are late and we are unlikely to find fault with the remaining issues. We also cannot investigate the actions of the Planning Inspectorate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, has complained the Council categorised his land as Green Belt in error and has failed to remedy its mistake. Mr X says this has led to the refusal of planning applications for the site and he has incurred significant costs trying to rectify the Council’s mistake. Mr X says his land should be removed from the Green Belt.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision and have considered his comments in response.

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What I found

5. Mr X has lived in his property since the 1990s. At the time, the land was not part of the Green Belt and the Council has previously given him permission to develop the land.
6. In 2004, the land was re-categorised as Green Belt. Mr X contacted the Council as he was concerned he had not been consulted about the change. Mr X says he was told the change had been a mistake and the matter would be dealt with.
7. In 2011, Mr X applied for planning permission to build three dwellings on the land. The Council considered the application but refused permission due to the impact on the Green Belt. Mr X appealed to the Planning Inspector about the decision, but his appeal was dismissed.
8. In 2012, Mr X says the Council told him it was recommending his land be removed from the Green Belt in the new draft Local Plan. However, the Planning Inspector refused the changes.
9. In 2019, the Council again agreed there were special circumstances to justify removing the land from the Green Belt in the new local plan. The matter was discussed at a public meeting, but the Planning Inspector again refused the changes. Mr X is unhappy with this decision and says the Planning Inspector based its decision on incorrect and misleading information from the Council.

Assessment

10. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council wrongly categorised his land as Green Belt or his concerns that it has failed to remedy the error. This is because parts of the complaint are late and I am unlikely to find fault with the remaining issues. The Ombudsman cannot investigate the actions of the Planning Inspector.
11. A complaint is late if it has taken someone more than 12 months to complain to the Ombudsman. Many of the issues Mr X has complained about date back to before 2014 and are therefore late. I see no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate as Mr X could have complained to the Ombudsman sooner.
12. I have considered Mr X’s concerns about what has happened since 2019. Mr X is unhappy his land was not removed from the Green Belt in the new draft Local Plan. He says the Council provided incorrect and misleading information to the Planning Inspector in this regard during the public meeting. He also says the Council failed to make it clear that the original inclusion of his land in the Green Belt was a mistake. Mr X says he asked the Council to contact the Planning Inspector after the public meeting and explain the error, but it refused. Mr X argues the Council should do more to ensure his land is removed from the Green Belt.
13. However, the Council did set out its reasons to the Planning Inspector explaining why it considered there were circumstances to justify the removal of Mr X’s land from the Green Belt. Furthermore, it was the Planning Inspector that decided exceptional reasons did not exist to justify the removal of the land. Mr X disagrees with this decision, but the Ombudsman cannot investigate the actions of the Planning Inspectorate.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because parts of the complaint are late and we are unlikely to find fault by the Council in relation to the remaining issues. We also cannot investigate the actions of the Planning Inspectorate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman