City of Doncaster Council (19 021 150)
Category : Other Categories > Councillor conduct and standards
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 Apr 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate how the Council decided not to pursue a complaint about the conduct of a councillor. It is unlikely he would find evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to here as Mrs D, has complained the Council will not investigate her concerns about the actions of a councillor.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Mrs D said in her including the Council’s response to Mrs D’s concerns. Mrs D also commented on a draft before I made this decision.
What I found
- Mrs D complained to the Council’s Monitoring Officer that a councillor had acted in a way that breached the Councillors’ Code of Conduct during consideration of the Local Plan.
- After discussion with the Independent Person, the Monitoring Officer decided the councillor had not breached the Code of Conduct.
- The Monitoring Officer wrote to Mrs D to explain the decision. I have seen no evidence of fault in how the Monitoring Officer made this decision and we do not provide a right of appeal against it.
Final decision
- I have decided we will not investigate this complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council. In the absence of fault, we cannot question the Monitoring Officer’s decision not to investigate Mrs D’s complaint about the councillor.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman