Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council handled the safety of a playground. This is because we have decided any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. X complains the Council failed properly to consider the safety of drainage and water features in a park. They say this has caused them injustice because they have spent considerable time and trouble researching the issue and complaining to the Council. X also complaints about how the Council handled their complaint, and would like the Council to acknowledge fault in how it communicated about the issue.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))
3. We will not normally investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), or section 34B(8)).

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. X wrote to the Council about safety concerns posed by the drainage and water features. X says they complained on behalf of residents. The Council, in its response to X, detailed how it considered safety, took advise from an expert organisation and what further plans in had to minimise risk. X is unhappy with the time if took the Council to respond, and the contents of the response.
7. The law means we can choose only to investigate a complaint where the person has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures by the body complained about. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
8. I recognise the safety of the playground is important to X and the residents they say they represent. I also recognise the time and trouble they have spent on this issue. However, this is not significant enough to warrant us investigating.
9. We will not investigate the way the Council handled the complaint and correspondence here because we are satisfied it did not cause enough separate injustice to warrant it.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman