Wakefield Metropolitan District Council (25 030 761)
Category : Transport and highways > Highway repair and maintenance
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council responded to reports of road defects. This is because any injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the lack of detail in the Council’s response to his reports of road defects.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained about multiple defects along a specific road. The Council told Mr X it had noted the repairs, and it would issue the jobs to the depot within 28 days.
- Mr X complained the Council had not provided a detailed response explaining the locations of the defects, and the types of repairs it would carry out. He asked for detail about testing and monitoring regimes.
- The Council apologised and said it could not provide the level of detailed information Mr X was seeking. It assured him it would do the repairs and update him.
- I will not investigate this complaint. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide the impact of the fault a person complains about is not so significant that we should investigate.
- 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 by an organisation. I do not consider the Council’s response to Mr X’s enquiries has caused him significant enough injustice to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman