Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council installing a new bus stop. Investigation is unlikely to find any fault but for which the Council would have been likely not to install the bus stop. Nor does the bus stop cause Mr and Mrs X a significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs X complain about the Council installing a bus stop at a junction outside their home. They say it is inappropriate and unsafe to put a bus stop on the junction rather than at an alternative site they say would have been better.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
3. 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 considered information provided by Mr and Mrs X, publicly available information about the relevant bus route and online maps and photographs of the area. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The bus timetable suggests about 28 buses daily might use this bus stop, comprising usually two buses (occasionally three) an hour, in a 13-hour period. The Council says buses now often stop for around 40 seconds, due to modern payment methods.
6. The Council and Mr and Mrs X disagree about the suitability of a bus stop on this site, at a junction. It is not for us to say whether the bus stop should be there. The Council can decide that. As paragraph 3 explained, we cannot criticise a decision just because someone disagrees with it or because there might have been scope for a different decision. We can only criticise a decision if there was fault in how the decision was reached.
7. The Council was not obliged to consult residents or get residents’ agreement on the precise location or type of bus stop. The evidence suggests the Council’s decision-making took account of comments received about its proposals, including from Mr and Mrs X; its knowledge of the area and of bus stops elsewhere; and written guidance about installing bus stops, while noting the latter was just guidance and the Council could decide for itself in each case.
8. The evidence I have seen shows the Council considered relevant factors and gave reasons for concluding the bus stop would be acceptable, including: reasons for having this type of bus stop; the bus stop’s particular position at the junction; the impact on traffic flows; spacing between bus stops; the proximity to routes people could walk to and from the bus stop; possible thronging of pedestrians on the pavement; residents’ objections; and the loss of one on-street parking space. The Council noted there will be some impact on traffic flow and visibility while a bus is waiting at the stop but gave reasons for believing that would not significantly worsen road safety. It also doubted there would be a significant detrimental impact on noise and air quality from the limited periods when a bus would be waiting at the bus stop.
9. The Council also gave reasons for considering some alternative locations unsuitable, though recognising other locations might be possible. The Council need not consider and prove that every possible alternative was unsuitable. I consider the Council did enough on this point.
10. The evidence I have seen suggests the Council considered relevant points. I am not persuaded there was likely to have been any fault in the decision-making but for which the Council would have been likely to have made a different decision about this bus stop. Therefore, while Mr and Mrs X can disagree with the Council, and indeed there is scope for different views on the matter, we would not be likely to criticise the Council’s decision if we investigated.
11. Separate from the points above, I also considered whether the bus stop affects Mr and Mrs X significantly enough in practical terms for the Ombudsman to investigate. There is concern about how buses at the bus stop might affect traffic flow and therefore air quality if traffic is idling. While there might well be some such impact, it is unlikely to be significant given the number of bus visits and the brief periods for which buses would be likely to stop across the whole day. Mr and Mrs X are concerned about road safety implications for vehicles and pedestrians while a bus is waiting at the bus stop, hindering visibility at the junction. That concern is necessarily speculative, and I note the Council gave reasons for not believing there was an unacceptable safety risk. This point does not in itself amount to reason for the Ombudsman to investigate.
12. There will be some noise and disruption from people waiting at the bus stop, getting on and off buses and from buses using the stop. However, that must be seen in the context the use of roads can change over time and there is no right to prevent any harmful impact from the changing use of the public highway outside one’s home. I do not consider this impact is significant enough to warrant investigation.
13. While I recognise the bus stop has some impact on Mr and Mrs X, I do not consider it amounts to a significant enough injustice to warrant the Ombudsman devoting time and public money to investigating the complaint.
14. Mr and Mrs X also express concern about the bus stop’s impact on other people, including children going to and from school and local families. However, those points do not directly affect Mr and Mrs X significantly. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to police or oversee councils’ activities generally.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr and Mrs X’s complaint because investigation is unlikely to find fault but for which a different result would have been likely and because Mr and Mrs X have not suffered a significant enough injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman