Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about street lighting. This is because the complaint is late with no good reason to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains the Council has failed to provide adequate street lighting on one side of the road he lives on and failed to properly respond to his complaint.
2. Mr Y says the inadequacy of the lighting does not deter fly tipping which he says is an issue in the area and makes it difficult to see at night. He says the Council’s poor complaint handling has caused him annoyance and inconvenience.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, 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 the information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr Y complained to the Council about inadequate street lighting on one side of his street in March and May 2020. His complaint letter said he had complained on several occasions over the previous years but had not received a satisfactory response to his complaint. The Council has said it has not received some of Mr Y’s letters and so could not respond.
7. The Council then responded to a further letter from Mr Y, sent in September 2020. In its response in October 2020, the Council said it would refer the request for further street lighting to the relevant team to consider. It then responded further in November 2020, referring Mr Y to us to progress his complaint, but saying it would be unable to consider the request for further lighting until a later date as it was not at that time a priority. Mr Y then asked us to investigate.

Analysis

8. The law says people should normally complain to us within 12 months of becoming aware of an issue. Complaints brought to the Ombudsman more than 12 months after someone becomes aware of something a council has done are considered late. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
9. Mr Y said in his complaint letter that he has been complaining about the street lighting for several years. As he has been aware of his reason to complain for over 12 months his complaint is late. Mr Y was able to write to the Council over several years but did not approach the Ombudsman about the problem.
10. Mr Y has also been aware that he was unhappy with how the Council was handling his complaint when he did not receive a satisfactory response to the issue. He has been aware of this as he said in his complaint letter he had been complaining for several years. Mr Y’s complaint about the complaint handling is therefore late.
11. It is reasonable to have expected him to contact us sooner about both the complaint handling and the street lighting issue. We will not consider his complaint as there are no good reasons for us to investigate his complaint now.
12. Further, 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. Consequently, we will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his complaint.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because it is late with no good reason to investigate it now and it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaint handling where we are not investigating the substantive issue.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman