Oxford City Council (24 013 354)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 05 Feb 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to approve a planning application. This complaint is late and there are no good reasons why it could not have been made sooner.
The complaint
- Mr X was unhappy with the Council’s decision to approve a planning application in June 2022. He said its decision making was flawed, and the case officer report was inaccurate. Mr X was also unhappy with the way the Council responded to his complaint about this matter.
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 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 and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In 2021, Mr X told the Council about his objections as part of the application process and the Council approved the application in June 2022. Mr X subsequently complained to the Council in early 2024, and then he made a complaint to us in October 2024.
- We will not investigate this complaint. I have considered Mr X’s reasons for complaining to us late, which includes a period of ill health as well as his recovery, however I am not satisfied these are sufficient good reasons to explain the length of delay before coming to us. Therefore, I will not exercise discretion to consider this complaint.
- Mr X was also unhappy with the way the Council responded to his complaints about this matter, but we will not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint. This is because it is not a good use of our resources to consider complaint handling by the Council, where we are not investigating the substantive issues.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are not sufficient good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman