Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about legal advice given by the Council’s solicitor at a planning meeting. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or injustice caused to Mr X to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains he has not been given proper answers to his questions concerning legal advice the Council’s solicitor gave at a planning meeting.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s response to his complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. We do not investigate every complaint we receive and while it is noted that Mr X remains dissatisfied with the Council’s response to his complaint concerning comments made by its solicitor during a planning meeting, neither fault by the Council nor injustice caused to Mr X is sufficient to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or injustice caused to Mr X to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman