Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s consideration of Mr X’s service request or its consideration of his request for enhanced road lighting. Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s actions in 2018 are late, and otherwise there is no significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X said he first raised his concerns with the Council in 2018 about road lighting and enhancements, to improve road markings, on a road he uses. Mr X said he never got a full response and despite following this up repeatedly, has never been given a full update, about whether the Council will agree to his service request. Mr X said this means he has to use a road he believes is unsafe.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. In 2018, Mr X raised his concerns about a road he uses daily, saying he was concerned it was unsafe. He asked the Council to consider extra lighting and other enhancements to improve the road markings.
7. We will not consider how the Council responded here, because this is a late complaint and I have not seen any good reasons why a complaint about the Council’s actions then, could not have been made sooner.
8. In early 2024, Mr X followed up his prior contact, asking for an update and from the information he provided, the Council gave him a part update. Mr X then followed this up asking for an update, and he said he never got a full response.
9. We will not investigate a complaint about this matter. This is because there is no significant personal injustice to Mr X, which has been directly caused by the Council’s lack of response, to his substantive complaint about poor road lighting or markings.
10. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because matters going back to 2018 are late and otherwise of the more recent matters, there is no significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman