Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about consultation about a new road and the Council’s complaint-handling. The Council’s faults have not caused a significant enough injustice at this stage for the Ombudsman to investigate. It would be disproportionate to investigate the Council’s complaint-handling by itself.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council did not properly consult about a proposed new road and did not deal properly with his complaint about the matter. He says this means he has inadequate information about the proposal and its impact on his home.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end, an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
3. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

6. The Council proposes to build a new road near Mr X’s home. Mr X is concerned about how the associated noise and disturbance might affect him.
7. The Council carried out a consultation in 2022. Mr X says that consultation did not involve residents in the way the Council’s predecessor council had committed to do some years ago and the Council did not answer Mr X’s questions properly or at all. Mr X complained to the Council. The Council accepts it did not handle the complaint properly, including taking around ten months to reply at stage 2 of the Council’s complaint procedure.
8. Mr X’s complaint to us seemed mainly prompted by not having received a stage 2 response from the Council. After Mr S contacted us, the Council sent a stage 2 response and apologised for the delay. So we cannot achieve more about getting the Council to provide a stage 2 response.
9. I appreciate Mr X is dissatisfied with the 2022 consultation and concerned about whether any future consultation would take place as he expects (based on the previous council said) and would be satisfactory. However, we will only pursue a complaint if the Council’s alleged or actual fault caused Mr X a significant enough injustice to warrant the Ombudsman devoting time and public money to pursuing the complaint. In Mr X’s situation, the most significant point is how any new road, if built, will affect Mr X. That underlies Mr X’s concerns about the process so far. Any worry or frustration Mr X has about the 2022 consultation and related events does not in itself significantly and directly affect how any bypass will impact Mr X practically. Any such impact will remain hypothetical until there is a plan the Council can lawfully implement. That will only happen if the Council grants planning permission for the development needed to create the new road. Currently, there is no such planning permission. In the circumstances, it would be disproportionate for us to get involved in how the Council conducted, or should conduct, consultations before the planning application stage. Investigation by the Ombudsman at this stage would not be able to achieve anything significant enough.
10. I understand Mr X’s dissatisfaction with the Council’s delay replying to his complaint. However, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
11. If there is a planning application for a new road, Mr X and others will have the right to comment about the impact on them and whether any proposed mitigation measures are adequate. If the Council decides to grant planning permission, it could add conditions requiring additional measures if it sees fit. If, in due course, Mr X is dissatisfied with the Council’s consideration of the planning application and/or the Council’s handling of any planning conditions about mitigation, he could complain to the Council and then to us. We would treat any such complaint on its merits.
12. Meanwhile, the events complained of since 2022 have not, in themselves, caused Mr X significant enough injustice for us to investigate. Any investigation by us would be disproportionate to anything we might reasonably achieve in terms of how the Council conducts consultations.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. There is not enough injustice from the consultation and related events to warrant investigation and it would be disproportionate to investigate the Council’s complaint-handling in isolation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman