The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about flood risk information. That is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
The complaint
Ms X complained that the online information about flood risk in the area that she lived was inaccurate. She said the surface water flood map described the area as ‘medium risk’, despite no flooding for over 50 years. Ms X said this misinformation had caused her significant anxiety. She wants compensation for the distress caused.
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, 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 Authority.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Although Ms X is unhappy about the information provided online about surface water flooding, there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify investigating. The Environment Agency has explained to Ms X that the information on the flood warning map is not suitable to be used to identify a risk to an individual property but should be viewed at a town or county level. This is also clear on the information provided online which states the flood warning is “unlikely to be reliable tor a local area and very unlikely to be reliable for identifying individual properties at risk”.
In addition, I do not consider the Environment Agency’s actions have caused Ms X a significant injustice. It has provided Ms X reassurance and explanation about what the flood maps mean. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman