Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his neighbour’s first planning application. This is because the complaint is late and we could not say the Council’s actions affected its decision or caused Mr X significant injustice. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his neighbour’s second planning application as there is not enough evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s handling of his neighbour’s applications for two separate developments. He says his neighbour’s development affects light to his property and is too close.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. 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

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council granted planning permission for Mr X’s neighbour’s first application in 2020; any complaint about its handling of this application and its decision is therefore late and I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate it. However even if we did investigate the matter further it is unlikely we could say any fault caused Mr X injustice. The Council has confirmed it failed to consider the impact of the development on light to Mr X’s property but it has explained the reasons why it would not have changed the outcome and we cannot overturn its decision or require his neighbour to alter it now.
8. Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his neighbour’s second application is in-time but there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision; we cannot therefore criticise it. The Council clearly considered Mr X’s objection to the proposal and while Mr X clearly disagrees with it I have seen nothing to show its decision was affected by fault.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault affecting the Council’s decisions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman