Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council deciding to proceed with the implementation of a cycleway along the complainant’s road. There is not enough evidence that fault by the Council has caused the complainant a significant injustice or affected the decision to proceed with the scheme.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the way the Council has proceeded with implementing a new cycleway along her road. She is worried about the carnage the plans will bring, as well as the safety of people using the route, particularly those with disabilities and mobility issues.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We can 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. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered:
• information provided by the Mrs X, which included the Council’s Stage 1 and 2 complaint responses.
• the November 2023 and December 2024 reports and Appendices to the Cabinet Member for City Services.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. I appreciate Mrs X is unhappy about the cycleway being implemented along her road.
5. But the Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. And our role is not to ask whether an organisation could have done things better, or whether we agree or disagree with what it did. Instead, we look at whether there was fault in how it made its decisions. If we decide there was no fault in how it did so, we cannot ask whether it should have made a particular decision or say it should have reached a different outcome, regardless of whether the complainant disagrees with the decision the organisation made. If there is evidence of fault in the process, we consider whether this has caused the complainant a significant injustice, including whether that fault is likely to have affected the decision outcome.

6. I consider there is not enough evidence to suggest any fault by the Council has caused Mrs X a significant injustice or affected the proposal outcome, so the Ombudsman will not start an investigation. In reaching this view, I am mindful that:
• This section of the cycleway has been subject to four rounds of consultation/engagement, with three revisions to the design of the scheme.
• The Council has held site visits and meetings with individual residents, stakeholders and interested parties during 2024.
• Whilst Mrs X says various notices were placed too high on lamp posts and trees in August 2024, the Council says these were at an appropriate height and it took photographs of the 25 locations where they were erected. Furthermore, I have seen nothing to suggest Mrs X was prevented from submitting her representations as a result of the positioning of the notices.
• The Notice of Proposals and Notice of Intent were also advertised in the local press.
• The Council provided additional notifications in the form of a ‘Street News’ leaflet and letter drops. A supplementary letter was subsequently sent to address concerns raised about the content of the original ‘Street News’ leaflet.
• The final scheme was reviewed by Active Travel England and Transport for West Midlands, with their recommendations considered in the December 2024 Report.
• The December 2024 Report considers and addresses the objections, representations and petitions submitted about the proposal.
• An Equality Impact Assessment was undertaken

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence that fault by the Council has caused her a significant injustice or affected its decision to proceed with the scheme.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman