Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in considering his petition. This is because it is unlikely investigation would achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has failed to consider his petition about a highways (traffic management) matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. The Council confirms it has Mr X’s petition and that it intends to put it to a committee to consider. But it has explained to Mr X that it needs to complete a report on the matter and decide which is the proper committee to consider it.
7. It is not for us to say the Council must present the report to a particular committee; that is a decision for the Council alone. We also cannot say that the Council must do this within a set timescale as there are no timescales included within its policy. I do not therefore consider we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X by investigating the alleged delay now.
8. In any event Mr X’s main injustice is from the highways issue itself rather than the Council’s handling of his petition; any complaint about the Council’s decisions on the issue are late and I have seen no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate such a complaint.
9. While the petition may generate discussion within the Council about whether to keep the measures put in place there is no requirement for the Council to take the action Mr X wants. Decisions on traffic management issues are not a referendum and do not have to follow the wishes of local residents. The petition may prompt the Council to consider whether to make the changes Mr X wants but if it decides not to, and if Mr X believes it has failed to properly consider the matter, he may raise a new complaint about the way the Council reached its decision.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X by investigating the delay further.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman