The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council considered Mr X’s concerns about councillor conduct. Mr X has not suffered a significant personal injustice which would warrant our involvement, and in any case, there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by us investigating.
The complaint
Mr X complained about how the Council considered his concerns about councillor conduct, specifically how they had disposed of waste.
Mr X said the matter was causing a negative impact to the community.
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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(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 complained to the Council about councillor conduct. Mr X said they were disposing of waste incorrectly and asked the Council to investigate.
Mr X said the Council did not properly consider his concerns or take any enforcement action.
The Council said it investigated Mr X’s concerns about waste disposal and gathered more information. It said it closed the investigation after it received evidence which confirmed waste was being disposed of correctly.
In its response to Mr X, the Council said it would not consider the matters as a conduct complaint because the councillor code of conduct applies when a councillor is acting in an official capacity. This was not the case here.
We will not normally investigate a complaint unless there is good reason to believe the complainant has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the Council. To satisfy this threshold we would need to be satisfied a person has suffered serious loss, or harm, or distress directly because of the Council’s actions.
I consider here that even if I were to find fault with how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint, I do not consider he has suffered a significant personal injustice, which meets the threshold for a full Ombudsman investigation.
In any case, there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by us investigating this complaint. The Council has already considered the waste disposal concerns and explained why it will not consider Mr X’s concerns as a conduct complaint. These actions appear appropriate and we could not tell the Council to do anything more beyond this.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not suffered a significant personal injustice and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by us investigating.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman