Devon County Council (25 011 183)
Category : Transport and highways > Street furniture and lighting
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Dec 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s use of road signs. Any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement and it is unlikely we would achieve more than the Council’s response.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council used road signs to promote sustainable travel, which he says is not a permitted use of such signs under the law. He says he has lost confidence in the Council because of this and has used up time complaining about the matter. He wants the Council to stop using road signs for this purpose.
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:
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In its complaint response, the Council said its use of road signs was in line with internal procedures and guidance approved by its Cabinet and Highways and Traffic Order Committees. It said it would review these procedures and guidance following Mr X’s complaint.
- We will not investigate this complaint. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of an organisation’s actions or inactions. Although I appreciate Mr X has concerns about this matter, I do not find that this threshold is met.
- The Council has also agreed to review the relevant procedures and guidance. It is unlikely our involvement would achieve more than this.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify an investigation and it is unlikely our involvement would achieve more than the Council’s response.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman