Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the failure to respond to the complainant’s complaint about a delay in determining her planning application. The complaint is late. The complainant also appealed to the Planning Inspector which takes the substantive issue out of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. Finally, there is insufficient injustice in the failure of the Council to follow the complaints procedure alone to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mrs X, says the Council failed to provide a full response to her complaint about a delay in making a decision on her planning application.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
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 Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mrs X.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X applied for planning permission in March 2021.
9. As the Council had not made a decision on the application, Mrs X complained to the Council in July 2021. She says the Council gave a ‘stock response’ in August 2021, which referred to the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on its planning function. Mrs X says the response failed to respond to all points made in her complaint.
10. Mrs X says a year later she complained again, asking for a response to all points previously raised.
11. The law says a complaint must be made to the Ombudsman within twelve months of the person becoming aware of the problem. Mrs X did not complain to us until June 2023. However:
• she became aware of the delay in determining her planning application in June 2021; and
• was aware the Council had not answered all points raised in her complaint in August
• the Council’s initial response advised of her right to escalate the complaint within 28 days if she was not satisfied.
12. Mrs X says she waited a year before contacting the Council to complain about its earlier response to her concerns.
13. This complaint is therefore late, and I have seen no good reason why Mrs X could not have approached the Ombudsman much sooner.
14. In addition, the issue at the heart of the complaint is the delay in the Council deciding whether to approve Mrs X’s planning application.
15. The Ombudsman cannot investigate any issues connected to the Council’s consideration of Mrs X’s planning application. This is because Mrs X has already appealed to the Planning Inspector. The Council’s handling of the application is linked to the decision which has been appealed. The Ombudsman cannot investigate when someone has appealed to the Planning Inspector, even if the appeal did not address all the issues complained about.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late. And we cannot consider any issues connected with the non-determination of her planning application as Mrs X has appealed to the Planning Inspector.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman