Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s processing and decisions on her husband’s planning applications for a house extension, and about the Council’s complaint process. Mr X’s appeal to the Planning Inspectorate means we do not have jurisdiction to investigate any part of the complaint from before the end of that appeal. Any part of the complaint about Mr X’s final planning application is late, and there are no good reasons for us to investigate it now. We do not investigate complaints about councils’ internal complaint processes where we are not pursuing the core issues which gave rise to the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mrs X lives with her husband Mr X. He made three full planning applications relating to a further extension to their property. Mrs X complains:
1. the Council delayed determining the planning applications;
2. a senior planning officer failed to give the permission when they considered it would have been the correct planning decision to grant it;
3. officers failed to reply to communications on the planning matters;
4. officers published incorrect information about their applications;
5. the Council breached its code of conduct;
6. the Council delayed and failed to properly deal with her complaint.
2. Mrs X says the Council’s delays led to increased and additional building costs and the loss of their original builder. She says the Council’s comments during the process have caused her family emotional stress, and they have spent time and been caused inconvenience by having to chase the Council for responses.
3. Mrs X wants the Council to compensate them for their increased and additional building costs. She also wants the Council to make changes to its planning service so others are not similarly affected.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a government minister. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of a government minister. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b), as amended)
5. The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, reference or review or remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
6. 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))
7. The Planning Inspectorate 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.

8. 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)
9. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

10. I considered information provided by Mrs X, online planning documents and maps, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

11. Where someone has exercised their right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate on a matter complained of, we have no discretion to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal has not provided a complete remedy for all the injustices claimed. This is in line with the outcome of R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916 (“ex parte PH”). The approach set down by this case applies to all circumstances where someone has already used their formal appeal right, including a Planning Inspectorate appeal. Therefore, we do not have jurisdiction and cannot investigate any part of Mrs X’s complaint relating to all events prior to the Planning Inspector’s appeal decision on Mr X’s second application.
12. In respect of Mr X’s third and final full planning application, the Council issued its decision to grant permission in March 2021. Mrs X brought her complaint about the Council’s actions to the Ombudsman in June 2022. We expect people to bring complaints to us within 12 months of them becoming aware of the matters complained of. The planning processes Mrs X has complained about ended over 12 months ago, so the complaint is late.
13. We may investigate a late complaint if we consider there are good reasons to do so. There are no good reasons to investigate this part of the complaint. This is because there is no different outcome an investigation would achieve. Mr X received the planning permission he sought in 2021, which was the core purpose of the applications. Our further involvement would achieve no different or additional outcome here.
14. I recognise Mrs X may not have received all the information included in her complaint about the earlier planning applications from the Council’s files, such as officer emails, until after the process had ended. But that is not a good reason to investigate those parts of the process now. The date on which Mrs X got that information cannot go behind the restriction on our jurisdiction stemming from Mr X’s appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, as set out above.
15. Mrs X has raised issues with the way the Council responded to and dealt with her complaint. We do not investigate councils’ internal complaint processes in isolation, where we are not investigating the core matters which gave rise to the complaint. It is not an effective use of our resources, received from public funds, for us to do so. That limitation applies here, so we will not investigate this part of the complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because:
• Mr X’s appeal to the Planning Inspectorate means we do not have jurisdiction to investigate any part of the complaint prior to the outcome of that appeal;
• the complaint about the final full planning application is late and there are no good reasons for us to investigate it now;
• we do not investigate complaints about councils’ internal complaint processes where we are not investigating the core issue which gave rise to the complaint.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman