London Borough of Harrow (24 016 014)
Category : Other Categories > Councillor conduct and standards
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 25 Feb 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Councillor’s conduct during a planning committee meeting. That is because the complaint is late.
The complaint
- Ms X complained about a Councillor’s conduct during a planning committee meeting. She said they failed to disclose non-pecuniary interests. She said the Council’s Monitoring Officer (MO), was not impartial in how they considered her complaint. She wants the Council to review the planning decision which she believes was incorrectly made and to introduce a process to review the MO’s decisions.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, 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
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Councillor’s conduct. The Council’s MO responded to her complaint in August 2023. Ms X did not complain to the Ombudsman until December 2024. Therefore, this complaint is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to consider it now.
- We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to approve planning permission. Ms X made an application to judicially review that decision. The law says we cannot investigate when someone has started court proceedings. That applies even if the application is withdrawn. Therefore, this complaint is outside our jurisdiction.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Councillor’s conduct because it late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman