City of York Council (23 001 684)
Category : Transport and highways > Street furniture and lighting
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Jun 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s installation of an LED lamp in the streetlight close to the complainant’s home. The Council has installed two shields on the lamp and confirms it is the lowest powered lamp they use. Further investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
- The complainant, I shall call Mrs X, complaints the Council replaced the old lamp in a streetlight close to her home with a brighter LED lamp. She says this causes light intrusion into her home.
- Mrs X wants a suitable light fitting installed which does not exceed the light necessary for the lane where she lives or cause light intrusion into her home.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Councils are expected to meet relevant standards when installing new street lighting. British Standard (BS) 5489 is the Code of Practice for road lighting.
- The Council confirms it has replaced the old lamp with an LED lamp. It says the new lamp is the lowest powered lamp it uses for streetlighting.
- In response to Mrs X’s concerns, the Council has installed two shields to the streetlight to reduce the light spill. Mrs X is not satisfied as she says the light is still intrusive.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Council have since confirmed the lamp is the lowest possible power setting it uses and it complies with its adopted street lighting policy. It has also fitted two shades to reduce light spill. We would not be able to add anything more to the outcome and there are no wider public interest reasons to continue our investigation into this complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman