Ombudsman's Report

Also at the Council Meeting was further discussion on the Ombudsman's report on a complaint received against MHDC relating to a matter some seven years ago. Although not legally liable to pay £5,500 to the complainant who cannot be named, Council agreed by one vote to pay this amount to satisfy the Ombudsman. The problem was that the Ombudsman's decision appears to have been made without certain information which many members felt was highly relevant to his deliberations. Even more unusual was that making this payment had been rejected by one vote at a December Council Meeting. The settlement was supposed to be fair to the complainant but my view that it was not fair to the taxpayer was the one vote short of being accepted.