Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council not providing information to the complainant. It is unlikely he would find fault has caused the complainant any significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr B, has complained the Council has not provided information about a speed limit which he says he was promised. He has also complained about how the Council has dealt with his complaint about this.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’.
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

4. It is not a good use of public money to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we decide not to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered what Mr B said in his complaint. Mr B commented on a draft before I made this decision.

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What I found

6. Mr B says the Council promised him information about the assessment of a speed limit it introduced near his home. He has given no indication why he wishes to have this information or how he has been affected by not receiving it.
7. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint because we are unlikely to find Mr B has been caused any significant injustice by any fault there may have been.
8. Given this, we will not investigate how the Council has dealt with Mr B’s complaint to it.

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Final decision

9. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint for the reasons given in paragraphs 7 and 8.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman