The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s proposals for traffic management in the town where the complainant lives. The Council has not yet completed consulting on its proposals, and we do not consider Mr X has suffered a significant personal injustice to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council closed a survey on proposed traffic management changes where he lives too early. He says residents could not make their views known. Therefore, the results of the survey are baseless.
He also says there is a conflict of interest because the company which will carry out the work is also managing the consultation.
Mr X says this caused an injustice because: there was a lack of consultation with residents there is a conflict of interest on a multi-million-pound contract email and postal survey responses go to different places; and the consultation closed too early
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council confirms it closed the survey on early traffic management proposals 24 hours early. However, it had already received more than 440 responses during the previous six weeks. It provided a link for Mr X to upload his comments which would, with the other responses, be considered. Revised proposals based on the comments received will be presented to the public. Following this any formal proposals will go through a formal planning or Traffic Regulation Order process. Both these processes include a further public consultation.
Based on the above I do not consider Mr X has suffered a significant personal injustice. Nor do I consider there is wider public interest due to future public consultation on any proposals.
The Council confirms it requires the civil engineers who will be involved in the design and delivery of the project to be involved in the consultation with the community. It also confirms the Council, the Town Deal Board and the engineering company produced the questionnaire to help the designers understand how residents and businesses travel in the town. This feedback will help further the proposed designs, which as already stated will be subject to further consultation. On this basis, I do not agree with Mr X’s claim of a conflict of interest.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we do not consider he has suffered a significant personal injustice. Nor do we consider an investigation would achieve a worthwhile outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman