Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about poor road maintenance. This is because it is late with no good reasons to use discretion to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains the Council failed to properly repair potholes on his road for several years. Mr Y says this has caused him inconvenience and he became so concerned about potential damage to his vehicle that he had to buy a 4x4 car.
2. Mr Y also says the Council eventually filled in the potholes in 2019, but this was just before the entire road was resurfaced which Mr Y considers a waste of public money.
3. Mr Y also complains about the Council’s response to his complaint as he feels no one at the Council took responsibility for the problem or getting it fixed and he feels the Council ignored him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr Y first complained to the Council about the condition of a road near him in 2013. Mr Y was concerned about subsidence on either side of the road which led to the middle of the road being higher than the outside, which he says he was concerned would cause potential damage to the underside of his vehicle. He became so concerned about this and the potholes forming on the road that he changed his vehicle to a 4X4 in 2015.
8. Between 2015 and 2019 Mr Y says he continued to contact the Council about potholes with the Council filling in potholes until February 2018. He says he was then told in 2019 that the road would be reconstructed in May 2019. However, three weeks before this work was due to start the Council filled in all the potholes. Mr Y says he contacted the council about this as he considered it to be a waste of public money. The council then resurfaced the road in mid-2019.
9. Mr Y says he has continued to complain to the Council about the problem and that it had in his view wasted money refilling the potholes three weeks before resurfacing the road entirely. He says the Council has largely ignored his complaints and failed to give him proper answers to his questions. He feels no one at the Council would take accountability for the issues he had experienced, and he does not feel listened to. He also says the Council’s contractors did not properly clean up after the work was completed in 2019.
10. Mr Y then complained further in late 2021. The Council responded initially in December 2021 and again in January 2022. It did not uphold Mr Y’s complaint and referred him to us.

Analysis

11. The law says people should normally complain to us within 12 months of becoming aware of an issue. Complaints brought to the Ombudsman more than 12 months after someone becomes aware of something a council has done are considered late. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
12. Mr Y has been aware of his complaint about the potholes since approximately 2013 and his further complaint about the resurfacing of the road since 2019. As both points are longer than 12 months ago, Mr Y’s complaint is late.
13. We have discretion to disapply the rule outlined in paragraph four where we decide there are good reasons, such as ill-health or incapacity meaning a person cannot come to act at the time. Mr Y has not provided any good reasons why he did not bring his complaint to us within 12 months of knowing about the matter. Consequently, we will not investigate this late complaint now.
14. Mr Y has also complained about the Council’s handling of his complaint. However, as we are not investigating the substantive issue, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council handled Mr Y’s complaint. Consequently we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because it is late with no good reasons to use discretion to investigate it now. Also, as we are not investigating the substantive issue it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council handled Mr Y’s complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman