Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s response to the ‘White Lives Matter Burnley’ banner that was flown above a football ground. The personal injustice caused to Mr X from this is not sufficient to warrant the Ombudsman’s involvement and he will not investigate.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council’s response to the ‘White Lives Matter Burnley’ banner flown over a football ground did not respect everyone’s right to free speech. Mr X complains the Council wasted police and the Civil Aviation Authority’s time by asking them to investigate the incident. Mr X also complains about the loss of business to companies who fly advertising banners when the Council suspended all banner towing operations at its airport.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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 the Council’s response to the ‘White Lives Matter Burnley’ banner flown over a football ground did not respect everyone’s right to free speech. Mr X complains the Council wasted police and the Civil Aviation Authority’s time by asking them to investigate the incident. Mr X also complains about the loss of business to companies who fly advertising banners, when the Council suspended all banner towing operations at its airport.
5. Mr X says he has been caused distress as the parties involved have had their freedoms violated by the Council and is concerned this could happen again to someone else.

Assessment

6. Mr X has concerns about restrictions on the freedom of speech and the possible financial impact on businesses operating banner towing operations. The impact personally on Mr X however, is not, from our perspective, significant and not at a level that would warrant our involvement.
7. For this reason, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

8. My decision is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to the “White Lives Matter Burnley’ banner. This is because Mr X is not personally affected by this to a degree that would warrant the Ombudsman’s involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman