Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council granting planning permission for a residential development next to the complainant’s home. The complaint is late, and it is reasonable to expect the complainant to have contacted us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council failed to properly consider the impact on their amenity when it approved a planning application for a residential development next to their home.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered:
• information provided by Mrs X and the Council, which included their complaint correspondence.
• Information about the planning applications for the site, on the Council’s planning website.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The time restriction detailed in paragraph 3 above appears to apply to this complaint. The main planning applications for this development were approved in late-2018 and Spring 2021, yet Mrs X did not contact the Ombudsman until December 2023, having made her complaint to the Council in July 2023.
6. I see no good reasons why Mrs X was prevented from complaining sooner, so we will not investigate this late complaint now.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect her to have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman