The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council has delayed dealing with his traffic assessment request and not communicated with him appropriately. The Council has given an appropriate apology for the poor service, explained the delay, and taken steps to improve the position. The Council has confirmed it will assess the traffic on Mr X’s road.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has delayed in dealing with his application, sent in August 2021, requesting a traffic assessment of his road. Mr X lives on a hill and says the amount of traffic has increased and there is speeding and dangerous driving. Mr X says he was told an assessment should take 12 weeks, but nothing has happened.
Mr X complains the Council’s communications and complaint handling was poor. He says the Council should apologise.
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 are satisfied with actions the council has taken or proposes taking.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I have viewed internet street scene photographs of Mr X’s road.
My assessment
I will not investigate this complaint for the following reasons: The Council wrote to Mr X on 29 March and 12 July 2022 and has explained the position and apologised: The Council says initially it did not propose doing another traffic assessment. However, the traffic engineering letter of 29 March agreed to do one because of the time that has passed since the previous assessment in 2016. The Council has explained it suspended traffic assessments due to the impact of covid-19 on traffic flows and the team and it is working through a backlog. It also does not do assessments during summer holidays. The Council says it has appointed an extra person to the traffic engineering team to improve communications with the public. It has not provided a date for the assessment but Mr X may return to the Ombudsman if there is delay beyond this year.
The Council has apologised to Mr X for the level of service he has received and the delay which is sufficient to remedy the injustice.
Final decision
The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council has delayed dealing with his traffic assessment request and not communicated with him appropriately. The Council has given an appropriate apology for the poor service and explained the delay. The Council has confirmed it will assess the traffic on Mr X’s road.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman