The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr D complains primarily about the Council’s consultation process regarding the removal of a market. The Ombudsman has discontinued the case because there is no significant personal injustice to Mr D.
The complaint
The complainant (whom I refer to as Mr D) complains the Council’s consultation process about removing a market was misleading and would impact disabled persons and traders.
Mr D also refers to the Leader of the Council.
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, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) Complaints about a Councillor should be made to the Council to be considered under its Standards process.
How I considered this complaint
I have considered the information provided by Mr D.
I shared my draft decision with both parties.
What I found
Mr D complains about the Council’s consultation process and its consideration of whether to remove a market. He says the removal would impact traders and disabled persons. Whilst I appreciate his concerns, I do not see any evidence of an alleged significant personal injustice to Mr D which would warrant investigation by the Ombudsman.
In addition, Mr D refers to the Leader of the Council and his being the “face” of the market decision making process. In the stage one complaint response the Council advised Mr D he had simply made a statement about the Leader rather than an actual complaint to respond to. If Mr D believes he has a valid complaint about misconduct by the Leader, he would need to pursue that with the Council as a standards complaint and explain how the code for Councillors has been breached. The Ombudsman cannot investigation the actions of Councillors. The Council’s website clearly explains the process for making this type of complaint. The Council also has the right to refuse to consider a complaint if it does not meet the criteria for a standards complaint.
Final decision
I have discontinued the investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman