The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr X complains about matters concerning products he and others are able to sell at a local market. We will not investigate the complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains about matters concerning the type of products that he and others are able to sell at a local market. He says the wrong processes are in operation and this is preventing him from selling his homemade product.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’ which we call ‘fault’. We cannot question whether an organisation’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start 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, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what he said.
My assessment
In response to Mr X’s complaint about these matters, the Council explained to him that decisions about trading at the market are the responsibility of the Market Manager and that he has sole discretion in relation to requests to extend product ranges.
I understand Mr X is unhappy that he cannot sell his product as he would like but we cannot review the merits of this decision. It is not our role to act as a point of appeal and I have seen no evidence to suggest there has been fault by the Council which warrants an investigation by the Ombudsman.
In responding to my draft decision, Mr X says there are councillors who support his position. However, market decisions about stallholders and products are for the Market Manager and not councillors to make. Mr X also refers to his trading position at the market prior to the Covid pandemic but the Council has explained to him that while it understood his decision not to return to trading during the pandemic, demand for pitches was high and the Market Manger could not hold open pitches for previous traders for an extended period.
Mr X makes an allegation that corruption is involved. If he has any evidence of this, he should report it to the police.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman