Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s consultations relating to travel schemes it proposed. The relevant decisions were made in late 2023 and early 2024, and there is not a good reason for the delay in Mr X bringing a complaint about the matter.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about how the Council considered two proposed travel schemes. He said it failed to consult properly with the public or take into account the responses it received. Mr X said he went to time and trouble taking part in the public consultation and the Council has wasted public funds.
2. Mr X wanted the responsible departments placed under special measures.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X’s complaint relates to two travel schemes the Council proposed between 2021 and 2024, which attracted significant local attention. The Council’s consultations for the proposals closed in 2022, and the relevant decisions were made in late 2023 and early 2024. Mr X complained to us in January 2026.
8. The law says people must bring complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter, unless there are good reasons. While there have been subsequent communications between Mr X and the Council, the substantive decisions were made by early 2024 and it would have been reasonable for Mr X to complain to us within 12 months. It was not necessary for Mr X to carry out his own investigations, in the way of information requests, before escalating a complaint to us.
9. In any event, even if we decided there was good reason for the delay in Mr X contacting us, it is unlikely we would investigate this complaint for other reasons:
• We will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious personal loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures by the service provider, or there are continuous and ongoing instances of a lower level injustice that remain unresolved over a long period of time. It is unlikely Mr X’s claimed personal injustice would meet this threshold.
• We have no power to place councils or their individual departments into special measures. We could not therefore achieve the outcome Mr X seeks from complaining.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason for the delay in him complaining to us.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman