Colchester City Council (25 023 590)
Category : Other Categories > Councillor conduct and standards
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Jun 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Parish Council’s response to his planning application and the Council’s decision not to investigate his complaint. This is because we cannot achieve a meaningful outcome for Mr X.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Parish Council’s response to his planning application and the Council’s decision not to investigate his complaint.
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 there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
- We cannot investigate complaints about actions which are not the administrative function of a council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(1) as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained about language used in the Parish Council’s response to his planning application. The law says we cannot investigate the actions of a Parish Council.
- Mr X also complained about how the Council considered his complaint about the Parish Council. I will not investigate this matter because we cannot achieve a meaningful outcome for Mr X. The Parish Council has written an apology to Mr X, and the Planning Inspector has considered his planning application. We cannot achieve any further meaningful outcome for Mr X.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the law says we cannot investigate complaints about Parish Councils and we cannot achieve a meaningful outcome for Mr X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman