Summary: Mr X complains the Council refuses to require the organiser of a large annual event to meet him to discuss his alternative traffic management proposals. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. We are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions. Nor can we achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking.

The complaint

1. Mr X lives close to the site of an annual international event. He complains the Council refused to invite him to a meeting with organisers and other agencies where it misrepresented his proposed plan for travel and crowd control. He says this led to it being rejected.
2. He says:
• he may be denied vehicular access to his home at any time during the four-day event
• up to 80% of the 500,000 visitors access the event via his community
• there are mass exoduses at night
• residents suffer personal assault, damage to and invasion of their homes and property and.
• potential delays to emergency vehicles because of restricted access
3. Mr X wants the Council to insist the event organiser and the police meet him to allow him to put his case in person. He also wants the Council to explain why it changed access measures affecting him, without consulting or advising him or the police and then denying having done so.

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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. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

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

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information provided by Mr X and the Council’s responses to his complaint. .

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What I found

7. Mr X lives close to the site of a large, longstanding, annual event. He says he has been complaining about the traffic management during the event since 2015.
8. The law says a complaint must be made to the Ombudsman within 12 months of the person becoming aware of the matter. In this case Mr X should have complained in 2016. I have discretion to investigate late complaints. However, in this case I have seen no reason why Mr X could not have approached the Ombudsman sooner. I have therefore restricted my assessment to the events of the last 12 months.
9. Mr X says the Council refused to allow him to meet the organiser to put forward alternative proposals for traffic and access management for the event due to take place in August 2020.
10. The Council says its officers have met with Mr X several times. Its officers discussed his alterative proposals with the event organiser and other agencies. It has provided a detailed explanation for why his alternative arrangements were rejected by all agencies because the changes required were not proportionate to the perceived risks.

Assessment

11. Mr X wants the Council to force the event organiser and police to meet him. This is not something the Council has the power to do. It has put his suggestions to all agencies involved and having discussed his concerns, rejected the proposals.
12. I understand Mr X is not satisfied with this decision but having reviewed his proposals, the Council does not have to accept them. I consider it unlikely that we would find fault in the Council’s action. Nor is further investigation likely to lead to a different outcome.
13. I am also aware the event for 2020 have been cancelled. The next scheduled event is not due until August 2021. While I appreciate Mr X would like a head-start on next year’s event, this is not the Ombudsman’s role.

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Final decision

14. I will not investigate this complaint. I have seen no reason to consider matters from more than 12 months ago. Regarding recent events, it is unlikely we will find fault in the Council’s actions. And it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. Nor can we achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman