Central Bedfordshire Council (22 015 143)
Category : Transport and highways > Traffic management
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 02 Apr 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council manages road closure permits. Any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
The complaint
- Ms X complained about how the Council issued street work permits for road closures. He said the Council agreed to closures without considering if they were necessary. He said that resulted in him sitting in traffic-jams and incurring extra fuel costs. He wants the Council to challenge permits and stop approving permits that are not necessary.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council issues permits for road closures. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter. Any injustice Mr X complains of, is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman