Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about road works and the Council’s poor communication with Mrs X. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. There is no significant injustice, and any further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained, saying she was seriously inconvenienced by the high level of road works being carried out on a main road which she needed regular access through. Mrs X was also unhappy the Council did not respond to her request for information about this for several months.

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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, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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Final decision

5. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because any injustice the Council’s actions caused are not significant enough to justify further investigation, and in any case, the Council has provided her with a response and apologised it did not reply to her earlier requests.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman