Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council changing the operational times of its street lighting. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council made its decision, and the complainant has not suffered a significant injustice as a result of the change to the lighting times.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr B, complains about the Council’s decision to alter the times that some of its street lights are switched on/off.

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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 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.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

3. And we cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered the information Mr B emailed to the Ombudsman on 20 November 2019, and his response to a draft version of this statement.

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What I found

5. In April 2019, the Council changed the operational times of 42,000 of its 57,000 street lights. The lights now switch off at 11.30pm instead of midnight, and return to operation again at 6am instead of 5.30am. The change affects street lighting in residential areas, with town centres and main routes remaining unaffected.

Assessment

6. I appreciate Mr B is unhappy with the decision to change the operational times of the street lights near his home. But the Ombudsman cannot question the Council’s decision unless there is evidence of fault in the way it was made. Mr B has not explained why he thinks there was an error in the decision-making process.
7. In addition, Mr B has not provided any information to demonstrate that he has suffered a significant injustice as a result of the lights being off for an additional hour.
8. With reference to paragraphs 2 and 3 above, I therefore do not consider the Ombudsman should investigate Mr B’s complaint.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision to change the lighting operation times, and Mr B has not suffered a significant personal injustice as a result of the change.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman