Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to follow policy when granting planning permission on a neighbouring property. Mr X stated this caused him distress and he wanted the council to amend the permission and offer compensation. We will not exercise discretion to investigate as the complaint is late, we cannot achieve what Mr X wants and he could have taken the matter to court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained that the Council did not follow its policy when granting planning permission for an extension on the neighbouring property. Mr X stated this caused him distress and blocked his view. Mr X wanted the council to amend the planning permission or compensate him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I read Mr X’s complaint with the documents he provided. Mr X had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

6. Mr X complained to the Council in June 2019 about the planning permission granted on a neighbouring property. Mr X said the planning officer’s report wrongly stated a policy applied when it did not. Mr X requested the Council refuse or amend the planning application.
7. The Council responded to Mr X in July 2019 with a stage 1 response which did not uphold his complaint. The Council said the case officer had not misinterpreted the policy on boundary proximity. The Council’s response advised that the planning decision notice can only be overturned by the High Court. The stage 1 response also directed Mr X to the next stage of the complaints procedure.
8. Mr X did not use the next stage of the Council’s complaints procedure and complained to us in February 2021. Mr X said he did not think using the next stage of the Council's complaint procedure would get a different result.
9. Section 284 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 states a planning appeal decision can only be overturned by application to the High Court.

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Analysis

10. The restriction outlined in paragraph 2 applied because Mr X complained about a matter he became aware of more than 12 months ago. We have discretion to disapply this rule where we decide there are good reasons to do so. In this case I decided not to exercise discretion because Mr X had not provided a good reason why he did not complain to us within 12 months.
11. The restriction outlined in paragraph 3 applied as we could not overturn the granted planning permission or compel the Council to approve Mr X’s planning permission.
12. The restriction outlined in paragraph 4 applied as, although the complainant stated he could not afford to take legal action, the result he wanted could only be provided by seeking a remedy through the court.

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Final decision

13. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint was late and there were no good reasons to exercise discretion to accept it now. An investigation would not provide the result Mr X wants. Mr X had the right to appeal to the High Court by a Judicial Review at the time and it was reasonable that he should do that.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman