Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s decision-making process when granting planning permission for her neighbour’s extension. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons for us to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Miss X lives next door to a property the owner of which received planning permission for a side and rear extension in 2021. She complains the Council:

1. failed to do a site visit during the planning process;
2. used inaccurate plans, which did not include her own extension, to decide the application;
3. failed to consider the impact of the development on her property’s outlook and the direct sunlight it would receive.

2. Miss X says she has a four-metre long, two storey brick wall affecting her living area which is overbearing for her house, patio and garden. She says the extension blocks about four hours of direct winter sunlight from her living room, bedroom and kitchen windows. Miss X says the loss of sunlight means she will have to put the heating on more often and install a kitchen radiator for the first time. She says during the development, 11 metres of land along her driveway collapsed after the builders cut a water pipe. Miss X says there are cracks appearing in her house and she is concerned the concrete foundation used by the builder will cause surface water flooding on her land.
3. Miss X wants the Council to explain why it granted permission for the application, explain why officers did not visit and granted the permission using online maps and images, and apologise.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 from Miss X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We expect people to complain to us about something they believe the council has done wrong within 12 months of the action complained of. The Council granted the neighbour’s planning permission in 2021. Miss X complained to us in June 2023, almost two years later. This means the complaint about the Council’s planning decision is late. We will only investigate a late complaint if we decide there are good reasons to do so. There are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion to investigate now. Miss X would have been aware of the design, location and scale of the proposed development from the planning process. She could have raised concerns about the impact of the extension on her property to the Council then to us sooner and in time, once the Council made its 2021 decision.
7. Some of Miss X’s claimed injustice relates to the neighbour’s construction of the extension causing problems on her property. I recognise Miss X’s complaint may have been prompted by those events during the build. But those issues are not the result of the Council’s planning decision. The Council is not responsible for actions by the neighbour or their contractors during construction which have damaged, or may damage, Miss X’s property. If Miss X believes the development has already caused or will cause damage to her property, these would be private civil matters between her and the neighbour.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because the complaint is late and there is no good reason for us to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman