The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a planning application. This is because the complainant is not complaining as a member of the public.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, has complained about how the Council dealt with a planning application and what happened during a planning committee meeting. Mr X says the Council failed to follow the correct processes and the decision to grant planning permission was not in line with the Council’s rules.
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 can only accept complaints from members of the public or their authorised representatives. This means we cannot accept complaints from councillors complaining about something relating to their position as a councillor. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A, as amended) We cannot investigate complaints from public bodies. (Local Government Act 1974, section 27(1)(a), as amended) 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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X has raised many concerns about the Council’s planning decision and what happened during a planning committee meeting where he spoke against the development on behalf of the parish council.
Mr X is a parish councillor, but he says he is complaining in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the parish council. However, the concerns raised relate to Mr X’s position as a councillor. Therefore, I do not consider that he is complaining as a member of the public and the complaint is outside our jurisdiction.
Furthermore, even if I did agree Mr X was complaining outside of his role as a parish councillor, my decision not to investigate would be the same as Mr X has not been caused any significant personal injustice as a result of the alleged fault.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he is not complaining as a member of the public.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman