The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with complains about Town Councillors. This is because Mr X has not been caused a significant injustice as a result of the Council’s actions.
The complaint
Mr X says there have been significant delays in the Council investigating the actions of two Town Councillors. Mr X says the Councillors took part in public meetings about his planning application and failed to declare an interest in the matter. Mr X says he has incurred significant costs an delay as a result of this and the Councillors have been able to continue influencing decisions.
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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as town councils. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, 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
Mr X says two Councillors from a Town Council took part in a debate about his planning application. He says both should have declared an interest in the matter as they live near to the development site and have been involved in opposing the development. He complained to the Borough Council which is responsible for investigating complaint about Town Councillors.
The Town Council is not responsible for granting or rejecting planning applications. The Borough Council is responsible for making these decisions and will invite the Town Council to provide comments.
The Borough Council refused to grant Mr X planning permission and he successfully appealed the decision with the Planning Inspector.
Mr X has not been caused a significant injustice as a result of any delay in the Borough Council investigating his complaints. This is because the Town Council is not responsible for making decisions on planning matters and so the Councillors impact on decisions or action taken by the Borough Council in relation to planning matters is limited.
I have considered whether there is a wider public interest in investigating this complaint. The Ombudsman does not have the power to investigate the actions of Councillors or the Town Council. Therefore, whilst we may investigate the actions of the Borough Council when handling the complaint we would be limited in any action we could recommend as we have now power to address the issues Mr X has raised in his substantive complaint about the actions of the Councillors.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not been caused a significant injustice as a result of delays in the Council investigating his complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman