Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s complaint handling. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement and Mr Y has not suffered significant personal injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains about the Council’s complaint handling. He originally complained to the Council about the behaviours of planning committee members.

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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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr Y and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr Y complained to the Council about comments made by committee members during an initial planning committee meeting. Mr Y says these comments indicated predetermination of the planning decision outcome. The Council investigated Mr Y’s concerns and found no service failure in the administration of the planning process. The Council said it would remind committee members of the importance of clarity and neutral language in quasi-judicial settings. We are unlikely to add to the Council’s response and therefore will not investigate this part of the complaint. If Mr Y believes councillors breached the member’s code of conduct, he can make a separate complaint to the Council’s Monitoring Officer.
6. I understand Mr Y is unhappy with the Council’s complaint handling. He says officers did not properly assess and respond to his complaint. However, I am satisfied the Council addressed Mr Y’s concerns appropriately and handled his complaint properly. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions, therefore we will not investigate this part of the complaint. Where the Ombudsman has decided not to investigate the substantive issues complained about, we will not usually use public resources to consider more minor matters such as complaint handling. Mr Y has also not suffered significant personal injustice.
7. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement and Mr Y has not suffered significant personal injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman