Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council not clearing gullies on the road where he lives. Even if there were Council fault in how it has sought to resolve the matter, it does not cause Mr X sufficient personal injustice to warrant us investigating. Investigation would also not achieve a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X lives down the road from an area where drainage gullies are causing surface-water flooding in the road. He complains the Council has failed to unblock the road gullies. Mr X says pedestrians on the pavement are being showered with water from vehicles driving through it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement; or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information from Mr X, online maps, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. We recognise Mr X or other pedestrians may be inconvenienced by having to time their approach to the area to avoid being splashed by passing vehicles, or by staying away from the area if the road is flooded. But the flooding does not cause a significant enough personal injustice to Mr X or others to justify us using our resources to investigate. Even if there were fault by the Council here which has led to the drains not being cleared, resulting in water pooling, the level of injustice caused by this does not warrant us investigating.
6. The Council accepts the need to clear the drains. It says it sought to do this last year but was prevented by parked cars. Officers say they intend to do the work once they can first cone off the affected area to keep it clear of vehicles. If we did investigate this matter, this agreement to schedule the work is the kind of outcome we might achieve from the Council. We would not achieve a different outcome here by investigating.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• even if there were fault by the Council, the matter has not caused Mr X a significant personal injustice which warrants us investigating; and
• an investigation would not achieve a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman