Summary: Mr X complains a councillor’s actions have led to a waste of public money. The Ombudsman cannot investigate as this complaint affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area and so is outside his legal remit.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that a councillor’s involvement in a parking scheme has wasted a large amount of public money.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), 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 that a councillor advocated a local parking scheme, to charge for parking at common land car parks, which very few residents wanted. Mr X says the scheme has not been a success and a large amount of public money has been wasted.

Analysis

5. The injustice Mr X claims arises from his complaint ie the loss of public funds, affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area and so, as per paragraph 2, is outside our legal remit.

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Final decision

6. My decision is that the Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint as it affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area. Such matters are outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman