West Sussex County Council (25 020 292)
Category : Transport and highways > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s response to flags appearing in public spaces. This has not caused the complainant significant enough injustice to warrant us investigating.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains the Council has failed to remove flags from street lighting column in her local area. Mrs X complains the flags have caused her to feel intimidated and scared as well as having a negative impact on how people feel about the area. She also complains they are a safety hazard.
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In Mrs X’s area people have attached flags to street lighting columns. The Council said it would not remove them as it did not consider them dangerous to road users or pedestrians. It explained how it assessed the level of risk posed on a case by case basis and explained its reasons for not removing all flags.
- There is no duty in law on the Council to remove items attached to lighting columns or other street furniture. We could not therefore say removing them or leaving them in place amounts to fault by a council.
- I recognise Mrs X may find the flags distressing, but it is not for the Ombudsman to reach a judgement about the significance of a flag to some people but not to others. This means any distress Mrs X may experience from seeing the flags is not a significant enough injustice to warrant the Ombudsman using time and public money to investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is neither enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision nor of it causing the complainant significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman