Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of planning applications or enforcement investigations in relation to property in Mr X’s locale. This is because past events fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and with regard to recent enforcement investigations, we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council unlawfully approved planning applications and “fudged” and delayed planning enforcement investigations in relation to planning breaches at property in his locale. He says it has also withheld information from him in relation to these investigations and failed to answer over 60 questions he had posed.

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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 investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’ which we call ‘fault’. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (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 the complainant and the Council, including its response to the complaint.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complained to the Council about its handling of various planning matters relating to application approval and planning enforcement investigations for property in his locale.
9. The Council responded making reference to previous complaints he had made to the Ombudsman about earlier planning matters and explaining had he wanted to challenge the legality of its decisions to approve his route to do so would have been by means of judicial review.
10. With regard to more recent enforcement investigations, the Council explained that one of its investigations had concluded and the case closed when the planning breach stopped and that a second separate investigation was still ongoing with the Council in dialogue with the property owner.
11. It told Mr X it had acknowledged his communications about these investigations but that it was not obliged to keep him updated on their continued progression and would not generally release information about it until either formal enforcement related notices are issued and so become public documents or any unauthorised use ceases.
12. The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to earlier planning approvals and past enforcement investigations about which Mr X complains. We will not revisit matters already considered by the Ombudsman and it is too late now to consider past events not previously raised as we would reasonably have expected them to have been brought to our attention sooner.
13. The Council has told Mr X why it is not releasing information he has asked for. It he wants to challenge this it is open to him to do so via an FOI request and the Information Commissioner’s Office.
14. The Council has addressed Mr X’s complaint and it is not obliged to respond to his 61 questions.
15. It is not our role to act as a point of appeal against decisions made by councils with which complainants disagree. The Council has told Mr X the situation with regard to the two recent investigations he highlighted and why it will not release information which might compromise any action it decides to take. In the absence of evidence of fault by the Council which has caused Mr X injustice, we will not investigate the complaint.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because past events fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and with regard to recent enforcement investigations, we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman