Wokingham Borough Council (21 006 617)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 07 Oct 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a planning application. This is because the complainant is not complaining as a member of the public.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, is a borough councillor. He has complained as a councillor about how the Council has dealt with a planning application. He says the Council’s actions have put his resident’s safety and property at risk.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We can only accept complaints from members of the public or their authorised representatives. This means we cannot accept complaints from councillors complaining about something relating to their position as a councillor. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A, as amended)
- The Ombudsman investigates 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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X has complained about how the Council has dealt with a planning application and the impact this will have on residents in the area where he is a councillor.
- However, Mr X’s complaint arises from his role as a councillor. As he is not complaining as a member of the public the complaint is outside our jurisdiction.
- Furthermore, even if Mr X was complaining outside of his role as a local councillor, my decision not to investigate would be the same. Mr X does not live near the application site and has not been caused any personal injustice by the issues complained about.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because he is not complaining as a member of the public and therefore the complaint is outside our jurisdiction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman