A complaint against a Gwynedd councillor alleged to have behaved “inappropriately” after posting a photo of a garden showing signs of hoarding on Facebook “should not be investigated”.

The Public Ombudsman’s decision came after a Cyngor Gwynedd councillor asked the public “would you like to live next door to this?”

The complainant had felt that the person responsible for the hoarding “could do with help and support rather than the court of public opinion”.

A screen-shot of the post and comments including criticism of the hoarding had been supplied to the Ombudsman in the complaint.

The member stated she had “no intention of offending” and the post had been deleted following the objection.

A report had noted that she had been in contact for over two years with local residents living adjacent to the site complaining about the situation.

The details, outlined in a Public Ombudsman’s decision, found the post was “an attempt to draw attention to the need to take action but was not meant personally”.

“Evidence provided does not indicate disgraceful or offensive behaviour that would affect the Code and justify intervening in the member’s right to political expression on this occasion,” the Ombudsman had commented.

It was noted that the member “should be aware of how comments can be interpreted or perceived on social media”.

The issue was deemed “unlikely to be synonymous” with a breach of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

The details came in a report describing allegations against members, which is being discussed at Cyngor Gwynedd’s Standards Committee on Monday, November 2.

The Ombudsman had considered evidence in six cases, as to whether they had breached the Code, and whether it was in the public interest to pursue.

In all six cases, the outcomes were deemed “should not be investigated”.