North Yorkshire Council (24 006 331)
Category : Transport and highways > Street furniture and lighting
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Aug 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate X’s complaint about an error on a street sign in the Council’s area or the Council’s poor communication about the matter. The Council apologised for its poor communication and replaced the street sign. Therefore, an investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome.
The complaint
- X complained about a street sign in the Council’s area that contained incorrect grammar. X also complained about the Council’s poor communication.
- X complained the matter caused them distress and frustration.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
- there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- X complained the Council replaced a street sign in its area. X said the new sign contained improper grammar because it did not have an apostrophe, which meant the sign referred to a religious person improperly. X said the matter affected them due to their religion. X also complained about delays in the Council’s communication regarding the matter.
- In its final complaint response, the Council apologised for its poor communication. It said it would replace the sign with another new sign including the apostrophe.
- In their summary to the Ombudsman, X said the Council had replaced the sign including an apostrophe.
Analysis
- We will not investigate this complaint. The Council has already replaced the sign and apologised for its poor communication. Therefore, an investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome, and we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman