Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s supervision of street works on a site near Mr X’s home. There is insufficient evidence of any personal injustice which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s supervision of works to construct a new traffic management layout on the road where he lives. He says that health and safety considerations were ignored by the contractors when using machinery and that barriers were removed by motorists and others to pass through the closed site.

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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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any 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, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X says the works which took place on his road to create a new traffic management scheme were poorly supervised by the Council. He says residents were sometimes unsure of when they would be able to access their homes and that the contractors ignored safety requirements when operating machinery near the footway which was still in use.
6. The Council says no safety breaches were reported and no incidents happened which involved workmen or the public. It accepts that road users accessed the site by moving barriers placed to restrict this but this was due to irresponsible or unlawful behaviour by individuals and not condoned by the Council as highway authority.
7. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
8. In this case there is insufficient evidence of any significant personal injustice to Mr X caused by the Council’s supervision of the works.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s supervision of street works on a site near Mr X’s home. There is insufficient evidence of any personal injustice which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman