Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a councillor conduct complaint as it is unlikely we would find fault causing an injustice to the complainant. We also cannot achieve the outcome the complainant seeks.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained to the Council about comments a councillor made to the Planning Inspectorate (PI) in relation to a planning appeal he had submitted. Mr X complained the comments were false. Mr X complains the Council did not consider his complaint fairly and without bias. Mr X wants councillor conduct complaints to be considered outside of the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We 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 or continue an investigation if we decide the allegation of fault does not give rise to injustice significant enough to justify our involvement, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X submitted a planning appeal to the PI. A councillor submitted comments to the PI about the matter which Mr X considered to be false. Mr X complained to the Council about this. The Council assessed Mr X’s complaint but took no further action as it did not consider the complaint evidenced a breach of its code of conduct for councillors.
7. I do not consider Mr X is caused a significant injustice from how the Council dealt with his conduct complaint in isolation and as such, there are not grounds for us to investigate this. Any injustice from any impact on Mr X’s planning appeal is not something we could investigate and would need to be addressed via the PI.
8. The Localism Act 2011 requires local authorities to have in place arrangements to investigate allegations of councillor misconduct and provides that it is for the principal authority to decide the details of those arrangements. We cannot recommend to the Council that it outsources its procedure for dealing with such matters.
9. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it does not cause him sufficient injustice to justify our further action, and we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman