Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s consideration of the complainant’s code of conduct complaint against a councillor. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council determined the code of conduct complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr B, says a councillor interfered in planning and enforcement matters relating to his property, but the Council has decided not to investigate his associated code of conduct complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

3. In that regard, we cannot question whether a Council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. So, the Ombudsman does not offer a right of appeal against a council’s decision on complaints that a councillor has breached the code of conduct. But we can consider if there was fault in the way the Council considered the complaint.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered:
• The Council’s ‘Arrangements for dealing with allegations of breach of the members’ code of conduct’;
• The Council’s decision letter on the code of conduct complaint;
• Mr B’s complaint to the Ombudsman.
6. I also gave Mr B the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this statement.

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What I found

7. I appreciate Mr B is unhappy with the Council’s decision to take no further action in relation to his complaint about the councillor.
8. But the Ombudsman cannot question the merits of the Council’s decision, unless there is evidence of administrative fault in the way it was made.
9. The Council’s Monitoring Officer consulted with the Independent Person, and provided a detailed explanation of the decision to Mr B. The Council has therefore properly followed its arrangements for determining code of conduct complaints, so I find there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant the Ombudsman pursuing the matter.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of administrative fault in the way the Council reached its decision on the code of conduct complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman