The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the failure of a Councillor to declare a pecuniary interest and voting at a planning committee meeting. The complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate.
The complaint
Mr B says Members of the Council’s planning committee failure complete the Member’s Register of Interest in full.
In particular, he says an individual councillor failed to declare a pecuniary interest and voted on an application to vary conditions on expanding Luton Airport.
Mr B says there will potentially be more than 1000 more aircraft passing over the area, increasing pollution and disturbance. He wants the planning decision overturned.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr B and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint. It does not meet the tests set out in our Assessment Code because: A failure to declare a pecuniary interest is a criminal offence and not a matter which we can investigate The injustice claimed is not personal to Mr B; and We cannot achieve the outcome Mr B is seeking.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman