Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not notifying Mr X of a planning application. Investigation would be unlikely to find sufficient injustice to warrant our involvement as the Council refused the planning application. Other matters Mr X complained of were not part of his complaint to the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X said the Council has acted with fault in allowing the expansion of operations at a local trading park site over the past two years and had failed to notify him of planning applications. He said it has also failed to check for planning breaches. He says noise and light pollution continues daily for 24 hours.

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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 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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also checked the Council’s website to see the records of planning applications for the site in question.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Although Mr X’s complaint to us was wider, his complaint to the Council concerned a recent planning application. He and the Council disagree about whether it was required to notify him and other nearby residents. I have taken no view about that because the Council refused the planning application. Therefore, there is not enough evidence of injustice to Mr X from any failure to notify him to warrant investigation by us.
9. The Council’s website shows no other planning applications for the site in the past five years. Even if Mr X had complained to the Council about a grant of planning permission made more than five years ago, it is unlikely we would investigate it now.
10. Nonetheless, Mr X is entitled to report any alleged recent or ongoing breaches of planning conditions by occupants of the site in question to the Council. He also has the right to report to the Council alleged recent or ongoing nuisance caused him by lights or noise. If he does so and has cause to complain to the Council about any failure to act, he would be welcome to return to us if dissatisfied with the Council’s response to a complaint. He would need to do so within 12 months of becoming aware of any alleged failure by the Council to take enforcement action.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of injustice caused to Mr X from the Council’s treatment of the recent planning application to warrant our further involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman