The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of planning and enforcement matters relating to art installations in Mr X’s locale. This is because the complaint is a late complaint due to the passage of time and so falls outside our jurisdiction.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of planning and enforcement matters relating to art installations, and particularly a fountain, in his locale. He says it failed to properly manage and monitor the planning process and approvals and failed to take appropriate and timely enforcement action. He says it also took seven years to address his complaint about these matters.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 the complainant, including the Council’s Planning Compliance report.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to Mr X’s complaint because the matters about which he complains date back a number of years and he first made his complaint about them to the Council in 2018. As we would reasonably have expected him to have complained to us sooner, the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and will not be investigated. That the Council has more recently looked again at this matter does not bring the complaint back within our jurisdiction.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint is a late complaint due to the passage of time and so falls outside our jurisdiction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman