Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X and Mrs Y’s complaint about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a development near their homes. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons why the complainants could not have brought their concerns to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mrs X and Mrs Y complaint about the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a development on land in between their homes. They believe the Council has ignored their valid objections about the proposed development and its impact of their amenity.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and information about the planning history of the development site available on the Council’s online planning portal.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council has approved various planning applications for the development of the site since 2018. The latest planning decision issued for the development site was in 2023 which was granted for variations to the placement of the property on the site and other matters. Mrs X and Mrs Y have submitted comments and their objections to the various planning applications since 2018.
8. Mrs X first contacted us about this matter in late 2023, when we explained she would need to first complain to the Council before we could consider the issues. The Council subsequently responded to Mrs X’s stage one complaint in November 2023, where it explained it had considered her comments and objections about the planning applications made on the site. The Council invited Mrs X to escalate her complaint to stage two if she remained dissatisfied. Mrs X declined this invitation as she believed it would be a waste of time.
9. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Any issues Mrs X and Mrs Y continue to have about the Council’s handling that occurred more than 12 months prior to them bringing their latest complaint to us are now late. I have seen no evidence to suggest Mrs X and Mrs Y could not have brought their concerns back to us sooner, so I will not exercise discretion to investigate this late complaint now.
10. We can exercise discretion to consider late complaints if there is good reason to do so. I have not enquired whether there is a good reason, because even if we investigated it is unlikely we could find evidence of procedural fault. This is because we are not an appeal body. We look at fault in the process by which decisions are made and do not criticise judgements made by councils if there is no fault.
11. In this case, I am satisfied the Council properly assessed the acceptability of the development, including the impact on neighbouring properties and the area, before granting planning permission. The case officer’s reports referred to Mrs X and Mrs Y’s objections and those from other residents. The reports address the concerns raised. Councils will grant permission where they consider proposals are in line with relevant planning policies and they find no planning reasons of sufficient weight to justify refusal.
12. The evidence strongly suggests that this is what has happened in this case and therefore we would be unlikely to find that there had been fault if exercised discretion and investigated this late complaint.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X and Mrs Y’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman