The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s consideration of the design of a traffic roundabout and junction. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The complaint is late, and we have seen no good reason to investigate it now.
The complaint
Mr X complains about work carried out by the Council on traffic roundabouts and junctions. He says there was an omission by the road safety auditor and an inadequate Council response to the road safety auditor’s comments in 2017.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns matter which occurred five years ago, and it is too late to raise these concerns now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman