The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council considered Mr X’s complaint. From the information we have seen, further investigation is unlikely to led to a different outcome.
The complaint
The complainant, I shall call Mr X, says the Council told a councillor that Mr X had complained about him, despite telling Mr X that it could not investigate the complaint.
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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s responses to his complaint.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council about a planning issue. As part of the complaint, he said that a councillor had said planning permission would not be granted before Mr X put in a planning application.
The Council says a senior officer asked the councillor to clarify what was said. The councillor told the Council he could not remember making any comments.
In its response to Mr X, the Council advised it could not investigate a complaint against the councillor without specific details such as the date, place, and time of the incident along with exactly what was said. Mr X could not provide the information needed, so the Council did not take further action.
Some weeks later, Mr X says the councillor accosted him at a public meeting, unhappy that Mr X had complained about him.
I understand Mr X is concerned the Council has not been transparent. He believes the Council may have investigated the complaint about the councillor but told him it had not. He also complains the Council told the councillor about the complaint.
However, the Council has explained the senior officer spoke to the councillor to see if he could clarify the matter. As he could not, the Council confirmed it required more information from Mr X to proceed.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has explained how the councillor was aware of his concerns. Therefore, I consider it unlikely that further investigation will lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman