Essex County Council (20 007 832)
Category : Transport and highways > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 18 Dec 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to grant an application for a dropped kerb. This is because the decision does not cause Mr X significant personal injustice and it is unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for him.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council wrongly approved an application for a dropped kerb for a property on his road. He is concerned about the impact the dropped kerb will have on road safety.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
- it is unlikely we would find fault, or
- the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
- we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I reviewed Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and considered his comments.
What I found
- Mr X lives on Road Y. He complains the Council wrongly granted permission for a dropped kerb to one of his neighbours. He says the road is dangerous and that a resident died after being hit by a car while crossing the road.
- While Mr X is concerned about the possible impact on road safety this is not a significant enough injustice to warrant investigation. The accident Mr X refers to was not related to a parking manoeuvre and the property it serves is some distance from his home. It is also unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome by investigating the complaint as the dropped kerb appears to have been completed and we cannot say the Council must revoke its permission and remove it.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the issue does not cause Mr X significant injustice and it is unlikely investigation could achieve any worthwhile outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman