Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about highway maintenance because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complained the Council has failed to clear guttering and gullies on the road where he lives. He is also unhappy with the Council’s response to his complaint.
2. Mr Y says the pavement slants towards his property, and he says this is causing him worry when it rains.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 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))
4. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information Mr Y and the Council and Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. 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 a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss of injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
7. In this instance, while Mr Y may feel dissatisfied with the Council’s service, and may feel some degree of concern about the pavement flooding, he has not experienced a significant personal injustice which would justify our involvement or investigation. Consequently, we will not investigate this complaint.
8. As we are not investigating the substantive issue, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council dealt with Mr Y’s complaint. We will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman