The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to close a road and that the Council ignored concerns of residents and other councillors. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.
The complaint
Mrs X complains about the Council’s decision to close a road. She says the Council ignored the concerns of residents and other councillors and steamrolled the closure through. She also complains about a lack of transparency regarding section 106 funding.
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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X complains about the Council’s decision to close a road near a junction. The Council explained a temporary closure of the road was implemented under an experimental traffic regulation order in March 2022.
Following a six-month consultation period, the Council said it reviewed the outcomes and confirmed the permanent closure in September 2023.
Therefore, the matters Mrs X complains about happened more than 12 months ago. Mrs X has not provided any good reasons for why she did not complain about the issues earlier. Therefore, I will not exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.
Mrs X also complains about a lack of transparency regarding section 106 funding. The Council confirmed it had not responded to this complaint and confirmed the closure of the road did not receive any section 106 funding. Therefore, we will not consider this matter as the complaint is premature. It is open to Mrs X to complain to the Council and to give it the opportunity to respond to the complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman