Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the assessment and management of Mr X’s Town Deal grant application. The law does not allow us to investigate the complaint against the Town Deal board. The complaint against the Council is late and there is no good reason to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Mr X says a Town Deal board did not correctly assess his grant application in 2020. He also says the Council did not properly handle matters related to his application. He wants his application to be reassessed.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as Town Deal boards. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council does. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

7. The Town Deal board is a partnership body made up of representatives of the private, public and community sectors. It was responsible for deciding what projects to include in its town investment plan. It invited grant applications for potential projects. The Council is the accountable body for the Town Deal and supported the administration of the grant process.
8. Mr X made a Town Deal grant application in September 2020. The Town Deal board refused the application in October 2020.
9. Although the Council is the accountable body, it was the Town Deal board that decided Mr X’s grant application. The Town Deal board is not a body whose actions we can investigate. It was not acting on the Council’s behalf. Therefore, its actions are outside our jurisdiction. This means we cannot investigate those parts of Mr X’s complaint about the Town Deal board’s actions and its decision to turn down Mr X’s grant application.
10. For those parts of Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s actions administering the grant process, Mr X has been aware of these issues since 2020 and he did not contact us until June 2025. I can see no good reason why Mr X did not contact us sooner. I consider that all relevant guidance was accessible to Mr X when he made his application. His complaint is late and I see no good reason to investigate it now.

Back to top

Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate the Town Deal board and the other parts of the complaint against the Council are too late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate this matter now.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman