on the lessons that can be learnt from our complaints about end of life care given in care homes and in the home.
Category : Planning > Planning applications Decision : Closed after initial enquiries Decision date : 21 Jan 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the conduct of a planning officer and a member of the National Park Authority. The complaint is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate it now.
The complaint
Mr X said a planning officer acted improperly by disclosing details of a planning application he made to a member of the National Park Authority before it was public knowledge. He said the member then acted improperly.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 planning authority has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
A complaint is only late once 12 months have passed after the complainant becomes aware of the matters complained of. In this case, regardless of the date when the alleged matters happened, Mr X became aware of them via a data access request. He knew of them by October 2023, when he complained to the National Park Authority.
Where a complaint is late, we may nonetheless exercise discretion to accept it if we think the person could not have contacted us sooner. It is clear from the documents Mr X sent us that the National Park Authority had reached a settled position on the complaint by December 2023. Mr X said he hoped to resolve the matter via his MP, and that delayed him coming to us. However, he had been able to raise the matter with another person external to the National Park Authority in the form of his MP. He could equally have contacted us much sooner.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there is no good reason to investigate it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman