Council refers Rushcliffe Borough Council to the Local Government Ombudsman
Nov 10, 2025
Serious concerns raised by the Parish Council to Rushcliffe Borough Council regarding the consultation on the housing proposed on the site of Tollerton Airport have been ignored and dismissed.
At the meeting of the Parish Council on 5th November it was therefore decided that the Parish Council should take the regrettable step of referring the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigates individual complaints about councils. If the Ombudsman decides to investigate they look at whether organisations have made decisions the right way.
The exchange of letters between the Parish Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council previously shared here was followed up by the Parish Council with a further letter on 24th October. A copy of this letter and the Borough Council’s response can be seen at the end of this update.
The Borough Council finally responded to the Parish Council on 3rd November, just two days before the close of the consultation, barely answering some of the issues raised and ignoring many of them.
This has led the Parish Council to take the next step in the official process for raising issues with the way that Councils operate.
It is regrettable that we have to trouble an external organisation to look into Rushcliffe Borough Council’s poor management of the consultation but we felt we had no alternative.
The issues raised by residents to the Parish Council and those identified by Councillors are so egregious and Rushcliffe Borough Council’s response so poor that this was the only route open to us. With Borough Councillor, Debbie Mason, confirming that she had not sought discussions with council officers about the quality of the consultation or residents concerns, Parish Councillors felt that a complaint to the ombudsman was the only way that residents might see Rushcliffe held to account.
The Ombudsman’s report will be published in due course and will be shared with residents.
