Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints about alleged abuses of power by council officers relating to a campaign against him. This is because these complaints are late and it would have been reasonable for Mr X to complain about them sooner. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a recent application to register land as common land as the Council is not responsible for determining the application or, therefore, for the injustice Mr X claims.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s actions relating to the development, use and sale of his land over several years. He says these actions have caused him significant injustice including financial loss, and has led to the destruction of his land. He believes council officers have abused their positions and believes they should be investigated and dismissed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 provided by the @complainant @and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The information Mr X has provided sets out the history of his involvement with the Council including various claims that officers have abused their powers as part of a vendetta against him to stop him from developing his land or selling it to others.
8. But it is not our role to look at the Council’s actions over many years in order to say it has embarked on a campaign against him. Mr X complained to us previously in 2018 and we will not revisit any issues which were considered as part of that complaint. We will also not investigate any of the concerns Mr X raises about the Council’s actions which he knew about more than 12 months before he complained to us in January 2024. This is because any complaint about these issues is late and I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate them further. Mr X has been aware of our service since at least 2018 and I have seen nothing to suggest it would not have been reasonable for him to complain to us sooner.
9. The Council has taken a similar approach to Mr X’s complaint and has focused its responses on the concerns he raised about the Council’s handling of an application to register land, part of which he says he owns, as common land.
10. But although the Council registered the application it is not responsible for determining it. This is a matter for the Planning Inspector. If Mr X has concerns about the application or wishes to comment on it he should therefore contact the Inspector dealing with the case. It is the outcome of the application, rather than any actions by the Council in processing it, which causes the injustice Mr X claims and we could not hold the Council responsible for this.
11. Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X’s complaints about the Council’s actions prior to January 2023 are late and it is the Planning Inspector, rather than the Council, who is responsible for determining the application to register land, part of which he says he owns, as common land. We cannot therefore hold the Council responsible for any injustice Mr X claims as a result of this application or the Inspector’s decision on it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman