Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to remove road signs which Mr X says misdirect additional traffic through the village where he lives. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s refusal to remove roads signs which direct additional traffic through his village to another village beyond. He says the Council should take action to prevent increased traffic volumes and speeding through the village.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X says signs on the main A-class road bear his village direct traffic through it to another village beyond it. He says this encourages additional traffic which could reach the other village by a different route. Increased traffic volume and speeding have led to him asking the Council to remove the signs.
6. The Council says the signs perform a function in notifying motorists of destinations beyond his own village and there is no requirement to remove them or an indication that they encourage speeding. The village already has a 30mphspeed limit and the Council does not consider there is sufficient need for further traffic calming. Speed limits are enforced by the Police, not the highway authority.
7. We may not question the merits of decisions which have been properly made. We do not comment on judgements councils make, unless they are affected by fault in the decision-making process.
8. The Council is the highway authority and it has powers to decide what traffic management features and signage should be applied to a particular location.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to remove road signs which Mr X says misdirect additional traffic through the village where he lives. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman