The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a streetlight. This is because the complaint is late with no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate it now and there is not significant enough of an injustice to warrant our investigation.
The complaint
Mr Y complained the Council positioned a streetlamp on his dropped kerb, which he says is against the Council’s own guidelines. This causes him to struggle getting his car on and off his driveway.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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 decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr Y complained to the Council about the streetlight in Spring 2022. The Council responded, denying fault in May, before providing a final response which referred Mr Y to us in September. Mr Y approached us in October.
Analysis As part of his evidence to support his complaint, Mr Y sent us a picture from a online map website of his house and the road outside of it. Having found the same image online, the photograph was taken in 2012. It shows the streetlight in its current position at that time.
As the Council positioned the streetlight more than 12 months ago, and Mr Y has been aware of this, the complaint is late. Complaints brought to the Ombudsman more than 12 months after someone becomes aware of something a council has done are considered late. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
Mr Y has not provided any good reasons why he did not bring the complaint to us within 12 months of knowing about the matter. It is reasonable to expect him to have complained sooner. We will not exercise our discretion to investigate this complaint now.
Further, our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss of injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
While Mr Y may struggle to drive on and off his property, he has still been able to use his driveway. With the streetlight having been in place for over 10 years at least, this is not something which would be considered a significant injustice. We will not investigate this complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman