North Somerset Council (23 001 669)
Category : Transport and highways > Traffic management
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 29 May 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of matters relating to road safety plans for Mr X's village. This is because the complaint is a late complaint and so falls outside our jurisdiction.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains about the Council’s handling of matters relating to road safety plans for his village and the actions of officers involved in the case.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
- 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, including the Council’s response to his complaint.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained to the Council in 2019 about matters concerning proposed road safety plans for his village and particularly about road markings on the cycleway.
- The Council responded to his complaint at the time and when Mr X raised similar issues again in 2023 it explained that its position in relation to the road safety issues he had been concerned with in previous years had not changed.
- The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to Mr X’s complaint. He was aware of the substantive issues about which he complains over four years ago and we would reasonably have expected him to have raised a complaint with us sooner.
- Moreover, in deciding whether to investigate a complaint we must consider the nature of the fault and the injustice claimed by the complainant and we will not investigate where there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating or where any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is a late complaint and so falls outside our jurisdiction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman