Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council handled his complaint about a potentially unlawful building on the highway. This is because we have decided any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed properly to properly investigate his complaint.
2. Mr X said this has caused him injustice because the Council showed him a lack of respect.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. People may complain to us about injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’ by a public organisation we could investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1) or section 34C(1)(a)).
4. 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), or section 34B(8)).
5. We will not normally investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), or section 34B(8)).

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The law means we can choose only to investigate a complaint where the person has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures by the body complained about. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
9. Mr X does not live near the building works he has complained about. If he wishes to access the highway in question the building works would not restrict his ability to use it.
10. We will not investigate the way the Council handled the complaint and correspondence here because we are satisfied it did not cause enough separate injustice to warrant it.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman