Summary: We will not investigate how the Council has resurfaced the pavement outside the complainant’s home. We are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council causing the complainant significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mrs C, is unhappy with how the Council has resurfaced the pavement near her home. She says the Council has not carried out the work to the required specification and the surface is uneven. Mrs C would like the Council to bring the pavement up to the same standard as the rest of the road.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’.
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault;
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

4. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached that is likely to have affected the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered what Mrs C said un her complaint which included the Council’s responses to her concerns. Mrs C commented on a draft before I made this decision.

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What I found

6. Mrs C complained to the Council about how it had resurfaced the pavement outside her home. The Council considered her concerns and carried out an inspection. While it identified some minor remedial works were required, the Council considers the quality of the work is acceptable.
7. I consider it is for the Council’s qualified highways engineers to assess the quality of the work carried out and decide if any remedial work is required. We are unlikely to find evidence of fault in how the Council has done this.
8. Further, even if there were some fault by the Council, I do not consider this can have caused Mrs C injustice that would warrant our involvement.

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Final decision

9. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find fault by the Council has caused Mrs C significant personal injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman