Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of the complainant’s planning applications and the building works he carried out. It is reasonable to expect the complainant to have contacted us sooner, the complainant has already used his right of appeal to the Planning Inspector against refused applications and an earlier enforcement notice, and it is reasonable to expect him to have appealed a second enforcement notice too.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to correctly assess his various planning applications, saying it does not appear to be following any particular policy or precedent. He also says the Council has failed to explain why it thinks he does not have a valid planning permission for the building works carried out.

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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 also cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a government minister. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of a government minister and can consider appeals about:
• a decision to refuse planning permission
• a planning enforcement notice

(Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b), as amended)

5. Similarly, the law also says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal, or could have appealed, to a government minister. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal or to have used the right of appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered:
• information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included the Council’s planning enforcement and complaint correspondence.
• information about Mr X’s planning applications and the enforcement notices served on him, as available on the Council’s website.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The time restriction detailed in paragraph 3 above applies to any parts of the complaint about the applications refused, or the enforcement notices issued, prior to December 2024. I see no reasons why the Ombudsman should exercise discretion to investigate these late matters now.
8. And with reference to paragraph 4 above, the Ombudsman also cannot investigate any parts of the complaint about the refused applications or the enforcement notice where Mr X has already used his right of appeal to challenge them. This is the case even if the appeals did not, or could not, address all the issues Mr X is concerned about.
9. The Council has also explained in emails to Mr X why it believes the building works do not benefit from a planning permission. If Mr X disagreed with the Council’s view, it is reasonable to expect him to have used his right of appeal to the Planning Inspector against the enforcement notice served on him in 2024. So the restriction detailed in paragraph 5 would also apply here.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• it is reasonable to expect him to have contacted us sooner about the applications refused, and the enforcement notices issued, prior to December 2024.
• he has already used his right of appeal to the Planning Inspector to challenge planning application refusals and an earlier enforcement notice, and
• it is reasonable to expect him to have used his right of appeal against the enforcement notice served in 2024.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman