The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr X complains the Council has not done enough to address traffic issues around a school close to his home. We will not investigate the complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X says he is fed up complaining to the Council about the dangers and inconvenience caused by school traffic during drop off and pick up times. He wants the Council to come up with a suitable traffic management plan.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’ which we call ‘fault’. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) 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 continue 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, 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), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council, including its response to the complaint.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council about traffic problems caused at the school close to his home during drop off and pick up times.
The Council delayed in responding to Mr X under both stages of its complaints procedure. It apologised for this and clarified the information given about the School Streets Scheme and the process involved in setting up such a scheme. It said its Highways Team was considering the issues around the school and the criteria for next year’s scheme. It confirmed that cameras had been installed to enforce parking restrictions and that PCNs were being issued for non-compliance.
While Mr X may not be satisfied with the outcome of his complaint to the Council, it is not our role to act as a point of appeal against decisions made by councils with which complainants do not agree. It is for councils to decide what traffic schemes to implement in their areas and there is no evidence to suggest the Council has acted with fault here.
There was delay by the Council in responding to Mr X’s complaint and while this fault is noted, we will not investigate complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive issue.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman