Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the conduct of a councillor in relation to a planning application. This is because there is no indication of fault in how the Council considered the complaint and so we cannot question its decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall refer to as Mrs X, complains about the result of her complaint to the Council regarding the conduct of a councillor. Mrs X says the councillor failed to declare his personal interest before making representations against her planning application.

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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)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered:

• the information provided by Mrs X,
• the Councils responses to her complaint and my enquiries,
• The council’s procedure for dealing with complaints against councillors.

5. I gave Mrs X the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

6. Mrs X made a planning application to the Council. The Council’s planning officer recommended approving the application. However, a local councillor (councillor Y) received objections from number of local residents. He referred the application to full Planning Committee for determination and made representations at the planning meeting.
7. Mrs X complains councillor Y failed to declare his personal interest of owning a property in the same street before raising his objections. Mrs X wants the Council to reconsider its decision on her planning application and complained to the Council.
8. The Council considered Mrs X’s complaint. It confirmed Councillor Y had declared his ownership of the property on the Council’s register. It also confirmed he did not take part in the decision-making process as he was not a member of the Planning Committee. The Council concluded there was no further requirement for councillor Y to declare any interest at the planning meeting or when he referred the matter to the full Planning committee. Its decision was that councillor Y’s actions did not breach the Code of Conduct.

Assessment

9. The Ombudsman does not offer a right of appeal against a council’s decision on member conduct complaints, but we can consider if there was fault in the way the Council considered the complaint.
10. The Council considered the complaint with regard to its procedure and made a decision it is entitled to reach. There is no indication of fault in the way the Council came to its decision and so we cannot question the merits of it.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the conduct of a councillor in relation to a planning application. This is because there is no indication of fault in the way the Council considered the complaint and so we cannot question its decision.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman