Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s consideration of planning applications close to the complainant’s former home. The complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The events complained of occurred more than 12 months ago and the complaint is therefore too late.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I will call Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for works including a garage at a property behind his home.
2. The Council received further applications for the same site to change the planning conditions and placement the garage. However, the last application was decided in 2019.
3. This means all the matters Mr X complains about occurred more than 12 months ago.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no reason why he could have come to us sooner about events which occurred before 2021.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman