Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council gave her incorrect advice about a grant of planning permission because the complaint is late without good reason to investigate it now. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the handling of her most recent planning application because it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to have used her right to appeal.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council gave her incorrect information, delayed significantly in deciding her planning application and failed to answer emails and calls.
2. Mrs X states this has caused her to incur costs and to feel frustrated and let down.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a government minister. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b), as amended)
5. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. The Planning Inspector considers appeals about delay by an authority in deciding an application for planning permission. This is separate to the right to appeal against an authority refusing planning permission.
6. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

9. The Council granted Mrs X planning permission several years ago. Before the planning permission expired Mrs X sought advice from the Council about how to extend the permission and followed the advice it gave her. However, the advice proved to be incorrect and the planning permission therefore lapsed. But Mrs X was aware the advice was wrong by May 2022 and did not complain to us until February 2025; her complaint about this issue is therefore late.
10. I appreciate that since May 2022 Mrs X has gone through the Council’s pre-application advice process, submitted a new application to the Council and appealed against the Council’s decision to refuse that application. But this does not provide good reasons for the delay in coming to us, which amounts to almost three years. I have seen nothing to show Mrs X could not have complained to us sooner and I have therefore decided not to exercise my discretion to investigate her complaint.
11. Mrs X has also complained about the Council’s delay in determining her new planning application. She submitted the application in 2022 but the Council failed to decide the application in the time required by law.
12. Mrs X had the right to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate when the Council delayed deciding her application. The law provides this option specifically for situations like this. We generally expect people to use it. As a developer, it is reasonable to expect that Mrs X would be aware of this right and would use it. We will not separately investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to her emails and calls because these are peripheral issues which relate to the handling of her application and did not cause Mrs X significant injustice in their own right.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. Mrs X could reasonably have used her right to appeal against the Council’s failure to decide her planning application. Part of the complaint is also late without good enough reason to investigate it now.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman