The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to install a bollard outside his property. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council’s decision to install a bollard outside his property. He said the Council did not tell him he could not use his neighbour’s dropped curb to drive his car onto the forecourt of his own property. He said the installation of the bollard had caused his family distress and caused difficulty when parking. He wants it to reconsider its decision.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement, and 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In the Council’s response to the complaint, it said Mr X had been using his neighbour’s dropped curb to access parking outside his property. It said this manoeuvre was dangerous and placed pedestrians at risk. It said it had discussed these concerns with Mr X, however, there was no agreement to change his behaviour. Therefore, it decided to install a bollard. It accepted it had no records of its conversations with Mr X, but confirmed these did occur. It said in future, it would write to any residents about identified highway’s violations.
Although Mr X is unhappy with the response, we will not investigate this complaint. The Council has set out its reasons for installing a bollard. There is not enough evidence of fault in how it made that decision to justify our involvement. And, given the lack of case records, it is unlikely we could make a robust finding either way about what the Council told Mr X before it installed the bollards. However, it has made service improvements to address this fault, therefore, further investigation by us would not lead to a different outcome.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman