Rushcliffe Borough Council (20 003 427)
Category : Other Categories > Councillor conduct and standards
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 28 Aug 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate how the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint about town council meetings. The Ombudsman has no legal remit over town councils and so cannot investigate the Council’s response to a complaint about town councils.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s response to his complaint about how town council meetings were conducted.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as town councils (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)
- The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered what Mr X said in his complaint.
What I found
- Mr X complains that Rushcliffe Borough Council (the Council) has not properly investigated his complaint about how virtual meetings of a town council have been conducted.
- The Council advised Mr X this is not a matter it can investigate but is for the town council itself. Mr X remains unhappy as he does not accept the Council’s position and says that it is not practical for the town council to investigate.
- Mr X says he has been caused distress and inconvenience by the Council’s response and wants the meetings to be declared illegal and to be re-run.
Analysis
- The law says we have no legal remit to investigate the actions of town councils. Additionally, the courts have held that we cannot investigate a complaint concerning a matter which itself is outside jurisdiction. We cannot therefore investigate how the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint.
Final decision
- My decision is that the Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint as the substantive matter is outside our legal remit as it is a complaint against a town council, a body not within our jurisdiction.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman