Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (21 010 618)
Category : Transport and highways > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 24 Nov 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to remove cones placed on a road by residents to stop people parking outside their properties. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with the matter and the issue has not caused a significant enough injustice to the complainant to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains that the Council refuse to remove cones that residents on a street have left to stop people parking outside their houses. Mr X says the cones are obstructing the highway
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. It considered Mr X’s request but concluded that the cones were not causing an obstruction to the highway. Mr X may strongly disagree, but that does not mean the Council has done anything wrong.
- Furthermore, I do not consider that the issues cause Mr X an injustice significant enough to warrant our involvement. There is nothing stopping Mr X from moving the cones if he wished to park his vehicle and I note that the road in question is more than three miles from his home.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault or that Mr X has been caused a significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman