Leicestershire County Council (21 016 705)
Category : Transport and highways > Traffic management
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 22 Mar 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to Mr X’s concerns of speeding and vehicles parking on grass verges in his locale. This is because there is no evidence to suggest fault by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council is ignoring his complaints about speeding vehicles and vehicles parking on grass verges and damaging them.
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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Since 2017 Mr X has been complaining to the Council about vehicles speeding in his locale. The Council has told Mr X that the evidence it has does not justify any further action being taken and has given him information about how to report his speeding concerns to the police.
- In 2019 the Council provided Mr X with a substantive response to his concerns about vehicles parking on verges and it explained why it would not be installing bollards. In response to his most recent complaint about the same matter, the Council has told him it will only repair damaged highway verges where its engineers consider there is an immediate road safety issue.
- While I understand Mr X remains dissatisfied with the Council’s response to the concerns he has raised, it has properly addressed them and referred him to the police to report speeding concerns. I have seen no evidence to suggest there has been fault by the Council and it is not obliged to take the action proposed by Mr X.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no evidence to suggest fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman