Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the way the Council investigated his complaint about the conduct of an officer. Further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to achieve any more for Mr B.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr B, complains a Council officer visited a property he was renovating and ordered his contractors to stop work because the walls were curtilage listed. Mr B complained about the officer’s conduct and says the Council failed to properly investigate his complaint because it did not ask him or his contractors to provide their explanation of events.

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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:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered the information Mr B provided and the complaint correspondence between Mr B and the Council. I have considered the planning information available on the Council’s website, sent a draft decision to Mr B and discussed the complaint with him before making a final decision.

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What I found

4. The Ombudsman will not investigate a complaint about the conduct of the officer during the site visit. Mr B complains the officer acted in an ‘unbecoming’ manner and the Council says the officer was firm and matter of fact.
5. Mr B complains the Council accepted the officer’s explanation of events without making any attempt to interview Mr B or his contractors. While Mr B believes the Council did not properly investigate his complaint, the Ombudsman will not consider this complaint. Further consideration of the complaint would not achieve any more for Mr B. I have no reason to doubt the contractors would have provided a differing version of events to the officer. But even if the Council had made further enquiries and received conflicting responses, the Ombudsman could not say the outcome of the complaint could or should have been different. The Ombudsman was not a party to what was said and the interpretation of tone and language is too subjective for the Ombudsman to make a decision on this complaint.
6. The Ombudsman also has no power to take or recommend action against individual officers. Personnel matters are for the Council alone. So, there is nothing more the Ombudsman could achieve for Mr B by investigating his complaint or asking the Council to carry out a new investigation and interview the contractors and Mr B.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to achieve any more for Mr B.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman