The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning application. This is because the complaint is late and we could not achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mrs X.
The complaint
The complainant, Mrs X, complains the Council failed to follow the proper process in reaching its decision to grant planning permission for land she had an interest in. She says the Council rushed its decision and this has impacted on her business.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X’s representative, Mr Y, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council granted planning permission in 2020 but Mrs X did not complain to us until September 2022; her complaint is more than a year late.
We have discretion to investigate late complaints but we could not achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mrs X by investigating this matter further. The Council has explained the reasons it decided the application as it did and it is not for us to question the merits of its decision.
The injustice Mrs X claims stems as much from a private agreement she had with the landowner as it does from the Council’s decision and we could not say that had the Council handled the application differently, Mrs X would not have suffered the impact she now claims.
If Mrs X felt the Council’s decision was flawed she could have challenged it at the time through the courts. She may also have claimed compensation for the losses she says she has suffered, which are beyond the remit of the Ombudsman to remedy.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is late and we could not achieve any worthwhile outcome by investigating the matter further.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman