Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about highway drainage because we are satisfied with the actions the Council proposes to take and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs Y complain the Council has failed to properly deal with flooding on his road and roads nearby for over 25 years, failed to repair a vehicle cross over which has been damaged by the flooding and poorly dealt with his complaint, in particularly a delayed response to his letters and contacts.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
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 and Mrs Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. As part of the complaint response given by the Council, it has recognised Mr and Mrs Y’s experience was not as it would expect. In recognition of this the Council has offered to pay £100 to Mr and Mrs Y to recognise the emotional impact of its complaint handling delay, agreed to visit the site during or soon after rainfall to see the surface area flooding, accept photographic evidence from Mrs Y of the issue and repair the vehicle cross over by the end of the calendar year.
7. The Council has properly considered the complaint and its impact and in response has offered a proportionate and appropriate remedy for the injustice caused by its fault. We are satisfied with the actions the Council has proposed to remedy the injustice caused. Consequently, it is unlikely further consideration of this complaint would lead to a different outcome. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome so we will not investigate this complaint.
8. Further, as we are not investigating the substantive issue about the flooding, it is not a good use of public resources for us to investigate how the Council dealt with Mr and Mrs Y’s complaint and correspondence. We will not investigate this.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr and Mrs Y’s complaint because we are satisfied with the actions the Council proposes to take and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman