The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s maintenance of the pavement outside Mr X’s property. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant in investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to maintain the pavement to a reasonable standard. He says he has a disability and that he is worried about falling on the uneven surface.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) 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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says the pavement outside his driveway entrance is in poor condition and he is concerned that it may cause him to stumble and fall. He reported the surface to the Council and it inspected the site. The Council told him that the pavement is scruffy in appearance and has some uneven tarmac repairs from works by utility companies, however, it does not meet its criteria for intervention. The surface is similar to the remainder of the street where Mr X lives.
The Council is the highway authority, and it maintains public highways and footways according to its intervention criteria which is 20mm depressions or obstructions for pavements and 40mm for roads.
The Ombudsman may not question the merits of decisions which have been made in a proper manner. This means we will not intervene in disagreements about the merits of decisions.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s maintenance of the pavement outside Mr X’s property. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant in investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman