Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint as we have not seen evidence of fault in the way the Council dealt with his code of conduct complaint about a councillor.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council has refused to carry out a formal investigation into his complaint that a councillor breached the Council’s code of conduct.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by maladministration and service failure. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by Mr X and discussed his complaint with him. I also considered the Council’s response to his complaint and its arrangements for dealing with complaints about councillors.
4. Mr X had the opportunity to comment on the draft version of this decision.

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What I found

5. In June, Mr X complained to the Council that a councillor had breached its code of conduct. He said the councillor had failed to act in an honest and transparent manner when objecting to his planning application.
6. The Council’s arrangements for dealing with code of conduct complaints (the arrangements) says:

“The Monitoring Officer will review every complaint received. The Councillor complained about will normally receive a copy of the complaint including the name of the complainant (unless the Monitoring Officer has agreed not to disclose the complainant’s name). The Councillor complained about will be given the opportunity to respond to the complaint.”

and

“The Monitoring Officer has the power after consultation with the Independent Person to determine whether a complaint merits formal investigation and to arrange such investigation.”

7. The Council acknowledged Mr X’s complaint within the 5 days as specified in the arrangements.
8. In August, the Council asked Mr X if he wished to continue with his complaint, given that his planning application had been approved. Mr X confirmed he wished to proceed.
9. During the next few months Mr X chased the Council for a response. In October, the Monitoring Officer apologised for the delay and advised he hoped to be in a position to send his draft assessment to the Council’s Independent Person (IP).
10. However, the Monitoring Officer did not send the draft assessment to the IP until 20 December.
11. In January, the IP provided his comments and the Monitoring Officer wrote to Mr X. He confirmed that after considering the complaint, seeking the Councillor’s response, and consulting the independent person he had decided the councillor had not breached the code of conduct because:
• When the Councillor made her original objection to Mr X’s planning application she had not yet been elected to the Council. Therefore, she could not have breached the code of conduct at that time as she was not bound by it.
• Following her election, the Councillor was bound by the code of conduct. However, the Monitoring Officer decided there was still no breach of the code as there was no evidence the Councillor had manipulated the planning process to disrupt Mr X’s planning application.
12. The Monitoring Officer has confirmed he consulted the Independent Person before making his final decision on the complaint.

Assessment

13. The Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to consider the actions of councillors where they are acting as ward councillors and not as representatives of the Council. He could not himself therefore investigate Mr X’s complaints about the way the councillor objected to his planning application or failed to declare her home address in her register of interests. Neither could he carry out an investigation into her conduct, which is part of Mr X’s desired outcome from his complaint.
14. The Monitoring Officer considered Mr X’s complaint and consulted the Independent Person before deciding the councillor had not breached the code of conduct. This is the correct procedure and the Council is entitled to make this decision. The Ombudsman cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong because the complainant disagrees with it. He must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached.
15. It is regrettable the Council took some months to come to its decision on Mr X’s complaint. However, as there is no specified period for making a decision in the arrangements, we cannot find fault.

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Final decision

16. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because we have not seen evidence of fault in the way the Council considered Mr X’s complaint that a councillor breached the code of conduct.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman