Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to relocate a streetlight outside his property. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council moved a streetlight outside his property, and he said this has prevented him from extending his driveway. Mr X states that he is unable to park his car closer to his home and would like the Council to move it back to the original location.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:
• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or

• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained to the Council that it moved a streetlight to outside his property, which prevented him extending his driveway. Mr X asked the Council to move the streetlight back to the previous location on the street.
7. The Council provided an explanation to Mr X as to why the streetlight had moved to outside his property. The Council stated that the street lighting design for the road had been carefully planned to meet British standard lighting levels using new modern LED technology.
8. The Council confirmed that it had no plans to move the streetlight to the previous location because it may not have been the most optimal location for lighting the road using LED streetlights.
9. I will not investigate this complaint, because given the Council’s explanation about why and where it moved the streetlight, there is not enough evidence of fault in the way it made its decision. Therefore, we cannot question the outcome.
10. In any case, we cannot ask the Council to move the streetlight so we cannot achieve what Mr X is seeking.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman