The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a consultation about its Local Plan. The matters complained of did not cause Mr and Mrs X significant enough personal injustice to warrant us investigating.
The complaint
Mr and Mrs X complain the Council did not properly handle a consultation process about a draft local plan. They say the Council only provided a website, rather than other methods, for residents to make comments about the plan and this was difficult to use, failed to acknowledge some comments and at times did not work. Mr and Mrs X say they spent a lot of time and effort dealing with the Council on these issues and that some residents would not have been able to comment as not everyone has access to the internet.
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: any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr and Mrs X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council fixed the website and confirmed to Mr and Mrs X it had received and would consider their comments. The Council apologised and said it had told the software company about the problems so the company could make improvements for the future. It is unlikely we would achieve much more than that. I understand Mr and Mrs X have spent time and effort dealing with this matter however there is not significant enough personal injustice to warrant investigation by us.
Nobody else has authorised Mr and Mrs X to complain to us about this matter and the evidence we have does not suggest a wider significant problem exists. The Council said it received a lot of comments from residents. It also provided alternatives to providing comments via its website. It would be disproportionate of us to consider this point any further.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr and Mrs X’s complaint because the matters complained of have not caused them significant enough personal injustice to warrant us investigating.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman