The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Councillor’s conduct. Any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the conduct of a Councillor. He said he had approached the Councillor with concerns the Council was not maintaining a grass verge properly. He said he found the Councillor’s responses unsatisfactory and rude. He said the Council had failed to respond to his complaint about the Councillor. He wants an investigation into their conduct.
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 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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not 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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X’s substantive complaint to the Council was around the maintenance of a grass verge. The Council responded to that complaint in August 2023.
Information provided by the Council shows alongside this, its Monitoring Officer (MO) considered Mr X’s concerns about the Councillor. The MO did not consider the Councillor’s responses to Mr X rude, but that the Councillor had given Mr X incorrect information. The MO decided there was no basis for a complaint about the Councillor, as Mr X had had a response to his complaint about the grass cutting and it was not reasonable to expect the Councillor to be an expert on the matter.
Although the Council did not contact Mr X with that decision in 2023, we will not investigate this complaint for the following reasons.
Firstly, we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. There is nothing to suggest Mr X’s contact with the Councillor or the Council’s lack of response has caused him a significant injustice.
In addition, the Council did not uphold Mr X’s concerns about the Councillor. There is not enough evidence of fault in how it made that decision to justify our involvement. Therefore, we could not achieve the outcome Mr X wants, which is an investigation into their conduct.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman