The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the safety of, and access to, a public right of way as the injustice caused to the complainant from the alleged Council fault is not sufficient to justify our further involvement.
The complaint
Mrs X complained the Council has failed to protect the public’s use of a public footpath which runs through a school car park. Mrs X complained the Council is wrongly prioritising motorists over pedestrians by encouraging pedestrians to use another route over private land to make way for motorists to drive over the public footpath. Mrs X complained she has been hit by cars at this location and has suffered stress which has aggravated her fibromyalgia. Mrs X wants the Council to place restrictions of times vehicles can use the footpath and install signs to make it clear the route is a footpath.
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 alleged fault has not caused significant injustice to the person who complained (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In its complaint response to Mrs X, the Council set out its opinion that pedestrians are not forced into conflict with motorists in the car park as there is an alternative safe walking route which can be used. Mrs X says she choses not to use this route for various reasons and as she feels she should be able to use the public footpath safely and have priority over vehicles.
I accept Mrs X feels very strongly about this issue and considers the Council is prioritising vehicles above pedestrians. However, there is an alternative route that Mrs X could use, and as such I do not consider she is caused a level of serious harm or loss from her complaint. I do not consider that any Council fault can be said to have directly caused incidents where Mrs X was hit by cars, or the stress Mrs X reports she has experienced in pursuing this matter, as ultimately this has been her own choice to do so.
For these reasons, we will not investigate the complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because any alleged fault has not directly caused significant injustice to her.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman