London Borough of Hillingdon (25 019 496)
Category : Other Categories > Councillor conduct and standards
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate how the Council dealt with a complaint about the conduct of a councillor as the complainant is not caused a level of injustice from this to justify our further involvement.
The complaint
- Mr X is unhappy the Council refused to investigate his complaint about a councillor’s comments about St. George and Union flags being flown on lampposts by members of the public and that the councillor led the Council’s response not to remove the flags. Mr X complained the councillor’s actions minimised legitimate resident concerns. Mr X says he went to time and trouble in making his complaint and says he has lost faith in the Council’s governance.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide any alleged fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I recognise Mr X’s concerns about the flying of the flags, but I do not consider he is caused a level of personal injustice from this or from the Council’s response to his complaint, that would warrant our involvement. We have limited resources and must direct them to the most serious cases. I do not consider this to be such a case. I note that Mr X spent time pursuing his complaint, but it was essentially his own choice to do this.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he is not caused a level of injustice from the alleged Council fault to warrant our further involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman