The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of a Parish Council and its Chair. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. We cannot investigate complaints about Parish Councils, and there is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Borough Council considered the associated code of conduct complaint against the Chair.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says his Parish Council introduced a ‘dark-sky’ policy with no involvement of the village residents, and it has ignored requests to provide details of the decision.
Mr X also says the Chair of the Parish Council overturned a unanimous vote that a second Vehicle Activated Signal should be installed on his road, and misled the Borough Council Monitoring Officer about when that change was decided.
Mr X says the actions of the Parish Council and the Chair have thwarted residents’ attempts to introduce effective traffic calming measures in their village.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
The Ombudsman can investigate 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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) In that regard, we cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there is clear evidence of procedural fault in the way the decision was reached. If there is evidence of fault in the process, we consider whether this is likely to have affected the outcome.
But we cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as parish 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, which included the code of conduct complaint and decision.
I also considered our Assessment Code, and the Council’s ‘Arrangements for dealing with standards allegations’.
My assessment
I appreciate Mr X is unhappy with the decisions and actions of the Parish Council, as he feels they are having a negative impact on highway safety in his village.
But the Ombudsman has no power to investigate parish councils, as they are not bodies within our jurisdiction.
We are therefore limited to considering how the Borough Council considered Mr X’s code of conduct complaint against the Chair.
Mr X had the opportunity to submit evidence in support of his code of conduct complaint, and this was considered by the Monitoring Officer with input from the Independent Person. The Monitoring Officer was entitled to reach a decision based on the evidence available, even if Mr X disagrees with that decision. As the Borough Council has considered Mr X’s concerns about the Chair in accordance with its code of conduct complaints procedure, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify the Ombudsman pursuing the matter further.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have no power to investigate the actions or decisions of parish councils, and there is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Borough Council considered the associated code of conduct complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman