Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council decided and dealt with his planning applications, including his allegations of discrimination. Mr X had rights of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against the Council’s decisions on his planning applications which it was reasonable for him to have used. There is no separate transaction between the Council and Mr X here other than the planning service, so he could have made any discrimination allegation as part of his Inspectorate appeal. The complaint is also late and there are no good reasons to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Mr X has made various planning applications relating to his home. He complains the Council:
1. failed to provide him with fair decisions on his Lawful Development Certificate (LDC) and planning permission applications;
2. delayed in determining his applications;
3. assigned his applications to a planning officer about whom he had previously raised concerns about their ability and discriminatory behaviour;
4. declined his offers to discuss his applications.
2. Mr X says the Council’s planning processes and its discrimination against him led to delays in getting his planning decisions, stress, distress, lost sleep, and to him needing counselling.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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.

5. 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

6. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, relevant planning documents, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X has made various planning and LDC applications for his property. He withdrew one of his planning applications in early 2020. His last LDC was granted in 2020. The Council refused the other applications in 2019 and 2020.
8. We will only investigate complaints from planning applicants with appeal rights where it would be unreasonable to expect them to have used those rights. It was reasonable for Mr X to use his appeal to the Planning Inspectorate here to challenge the Council’s planning decisions. Mr X’s emails to the Council show he was aware of his appeal rights. His further correspondence with the Council, after they had determined his applications, shows he could have used that opportunity to appeal instead of complaining to the Council.
9. If Mr X disagreed with the Council’s decisions on the applications he did not withdraw, he could have used his rights of appeal to the Inspectorate. He also had a right of appeal to the Inspector where he considered the Council had not decided any of his applications in time, as an appeal against non-determination.
10. Mr X has claimed the Council has discriminated against him. The Council has invited him to provide evidence to support his allegations, considered them several times, and has not found any of its decisions or actions were based on officers’ discriminatory behaviour.
11. The only service the Council was providing to Mr X here was its officers processing his planning applications, so Mr X’s discrimination allegations are not severable from the planning processes and decisions. If Mr X believed the Council made the wrong decision on his refused applications, he could have claimed in his appeal that he considered this was due in whole or part to Council discrimination against him. The Inspectorate could have then considered and decided his application afresh, without any further involvement from the Council’s planning service. There is no grievance caused to Mr X which is severable from the Council’s planning decisions, against which he had that appeal.
12. In any event, the matters Mr X has complained about all occurred more than 12 months before he brought his complaint to us, so the complaint is late. We will only investigate late complaints where there are good reasons to do so. Given the appeal rights Mr X had available to him to pursue this matter, there are no good reasons for us to investigate now.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• he had rights of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against the Council’s decisions on his planning applications which it was reasonable for him to have used to get the permissions he wanted;
• there is no separate transaction between the Council and Mr X here other than the planning service, so if he considered he had not received the outcome he wanted from the Council due to discrimination, he could have made that allegation as part of his Inspectorate appeal;
• the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman