Summary: Mr D complains the Council gave him insufficient notice about a road closure which impacted on his business. The Ombudsman has discontinued the investigation. That is because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable.

The complaint

1. The complainant (whom I refer to as Mr D) says the Council only gave him 48 hours notice about a road closure which impacted on his business. He wants the Council to either financially redress him for staff costs and lost income or award a discretionary grant.

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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’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide to discontinue an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered the information provided by Mr D alongside government guidance on compensation for road closures.
5. I shared my draft decision with both parties.

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What I found

What happened

6. In 2020 the Council told Mr D it would be closing the road where his business is situated within 48 hours to carry out works. Mr D subsequently complained to the Council. In October it accepted it had not provided the usual amount of notice and apologised. It explained it could not offer compensation.

Reason for my decision

7. Mr D wants the Council to either award him a discretionary grant, which he previously applied for and was refused, or to pay redress for staff costs and loss of business. The Ombudsman cannot ask the Council to award a grant that has already been considered and refused. We also cannot ask the Council to pay redress for road closures. A Government standard note (SN/BT/200) sets out there is “no liability on the authority for any loss of business” resulting from a road closure.
8. In view of the above I intend to discontinue the investigation because the Ombudsman will not be able to achieve the outcome Mr D wants. In addition, further investigation would not result in a different outcome because the Council has already accepted fault and apologised.

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Final decision

9. I have discontinued the investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman