Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his conduct complaints involving a parish council. The Council has offered to deal with the matter further by considering a complaint against the chair of the parish council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council’s monitoring officer has failed to deal properly with his conduct complaint about members of a parish council. Mr X says the Council has caused distress and time and trouble. He says the Council should apologise, investigate his conduct complaint properly and he would like a meeting with the monitoring officer or chief executive.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We investigate complaints about most councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of a parish council. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and Council including the correspondence.

Back to top

My assessment

6. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint for the following reasons:
7. It is appropriate for the Council to deal with the complaint further. The Council has recently written to Mr X saying it will consider the conduct of the chair of the parish council during a meeting if further details are provided. The original complaint of September says the chair’s behaviour was offensive, aggressive, and bullying but did not provide details. Mr X tells me it was his wife who attended the parish council meeting. Mrs X recently told the Council she felt humiliated and very upset by the experience. There is also a suggestion in the later correspondence that the chair was a friend of the person who objected to Mr X’s plans and should therefore have declared an interest.
8. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s general position. The Council has explained regarding the remainder of Mr X’s comments that it will not investigate. It considers they are about the actions of the parish council as a corporate body rather than individual conduct. Mr X has criticised the parish council’s disregard for protocols and behaviours. He has questioned whether it acted within required rules when considering and objecting to his actions with another public body.
9. The Ombudsman cannot investigate actions of the parish council which is not a body within jurisdiction (see paragraph 4).

Back to top

Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his conduct complaints involving a parish council. The Council has offered to deal with the matter further by considering a complaint against the chair of the parish council.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman