Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s response to his complaint that a town council acted illegally in appointing a Mayor. Mr X’s concerns as a resident do not represent a level of personal injustice to warrant the Ombudsman’s involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s response to his complaint that a town council acted illegally in appointing a Mayor.

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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 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 the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered what Mr X said in his complaint.

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What I found

4. Mr X complains about Cheshire East Council’s response to his complaint that a town council acted illegally in appointing a Mayor. Mr X is concerned as a resident that the town council is being allowed to act illegally and should be sanctioned.

Analysis

5. Mr X’s concerns as a resident do not represent a level of personal injustice that would warrant our involvement. We will not therefore investigate.

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Final decision

6. My decision is that the Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X is not caused significant personal injustice from it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman