The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s public consultation on proposals in its Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan. The complainant has not suffered significant enough personal injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr B, complained about the Council’s public consultation on proposals in its Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the information the Council has published about its proposals on its website.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr B told us the Council failed to mention a significantly affected road in virtually all of its initial publicity. He said hundreds of people park on the road and he occasionally uses the parking bays that are currently on it. He said when he and others were campaigning about the proposals, they referred people to the Council’s official consultation website. But, until the Council corrected some of its information, the road in question was not mentioned as one of those affected. So, he said, it looked like they were lying about the impact of the scheme. Mr B complained that the Council has refused to acknowledge it has done anything wrong causing further distress to campaigners.
In January 2022 the Council is to decide whether to approve the proposals which are the subject of Mr B’s complaint. The Council will reach its decision after considering a report recommending implementation of the proposals. The report summarises the outcome of the Council’s consultations.
Mr B has not suffered significant enough personal injustice as a result of what has happened to justify our involvement. His complaint does not therefore meet an important test in our Assessment Code.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because he has not suffered significant enough personal injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman