The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council has refused to move a street name sign which is in the wrong position. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Mr B complains the Council has refused to move a street name sign for an adjoining street which is directly in front of his property. Mr B says the location of this sign causes confusion and visitors have difficulty locating his property. Mr B says the Council could easily resolve this problem by moving the sign slightly further down the street.
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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr B and have viewed this location on Google Streetview.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council has decided not to move this sign. The Council says this sign must be located at the entrance to the adjoining street to denote the start of the street. The Council says to move this sign further along the street would make it less conspicuous and so less effective.
We will not investigate this complaint. The Council has considered Mr B’s request and has explained its decision. It is not our role to tell the Council it should make a different decision on this issue. So, an investigation is not justified.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman