Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her planning applications. This is because Mrs X has used her right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains about the Council’s handling of her planning applications. She says the Council has failed to properly consider material planning considerations and that its view on her proposed development is ridiculous and biased.

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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 tribunal or a government minister or started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6), as amended)
5. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. The Planning Inspector considers appeals about:

• Delay – usually over eight weeks – by an authority in deciding an application for planning permission
• A decision to refuse planning permission
• Conditions placed on planning permission
• A planning enforcement notice.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mrs X has made several applications to the Council to extend her property since 2018. She is unhappy about the way the Council has considered her applications and believes it was wrong to refuse them.
9. Any complaint about the Council’s actions more than 12 months before Mrs X referred her complaint to us is late. We have discretion to investigate late complaints but Mrs X has appealed against the Council’s decisions to refuse her applications and this removes any discretion we have to consider her complaints further.
10. The Planning Inspector has considered Mrs X’s appeals and is currently in the process of determining her appeal against the Council’s most recent decision. The law therefore prohibits us from investigating any complaint about its decisions or the way they were reached.

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Final decision

11. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because Mrs X has used her right of appeal to the Planning Inspector.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman