The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about road sign clearance. This is because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mrs Y complained the Council has failed to stop a local business from placing adverts on road signs in her area. She says the situation has caused her frustration and anger at the lack of action by the Council.
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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information Mrs Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs Y says she has been complaining to the Council for several years about a local business which has been placing adverts of road signs in the area. The Council provided responses to Mrs Y in March, July and November 2022, following which Mrs Y approached us.
Analysis Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
Mrs Y may have experienced frustration, but this has been limited and has not been a serious loss or harm. Consequently, it would not be a good use of public resources to investigate this complaint, as any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman