The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the conduct of a local councillor and how the Council has considered the matter. The Council has not caused Mr X injustice and it would not be a good use of limited public resources to investigate.
The complaint
Mr X complains the monitoring officer has not dealt properly with his complaint about his email communications with a councillor about a railway station. Mr X says the councillor was dismissive in tone, failed to provide reasons for his view, and implied Mr X was wasting his time. Mr X says the Council’s communications are not an acceptable way to deal with the public.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I have considered Mr X’s information and comments. The information includes emails with a councillor and part of the monitoring officer reply to his concerns.
My assessment
I will not investigate this complaint for the following reasons: The Ombudsman investigates fault causing injustice. The Council’s decision that there is not a breach of the member code and the communication with the councillor has not caused Mr X injustice. I consider the councillor engaged in a meaningful conversation with Mr X and was not rude.
It would not be a good use of limited public resources to investigate.
Final decision
The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the conduct of a local councillor and how the Council has considered the matter. The Council has not caused Mr X injustice and it would not be a good use of limited public resources to investigate.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman