§ Lord Denningasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is open to a parish council or most of the inhabitants of a parish to make a complaint of maladministration by the officers of the county council, or whether it is excluded by reason of Section 26, sub-paragraph 7, and Section 27, sub-paragraph 1, of the Local Government Act 1974: and, if so, what is the reason for the exclusion.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Arran)Section 27(1) of the Local Government Act 1974 excludes,inter alia, parish councils from making complaints to a Local Commissioner. The purpose of the exclusions in Section 27(1) is to avoid one public body invoking the complaints procedure against another such body.
There is nothing in the 1974 Act which precludes a body of inhabitants of a parish from acting together to bring a complaint against a county council; Section 26(7) only debars investigation by a Local Commissioner when most of the inhabitants of the whole area of the investigated authority are affected.