Devon County Council (06B12820)

Rights of way               Maladministration causing injustice

27 February 2008 

The complaint

Mr C, a member and former access officer of the Ramblers Association, complained that the Council delayed unreasonably in making modification orders to footpaths not far from his home, following a direction from the Secretary of State.

What happened

Mr C had been trying for some years to get the Council to make modification orders for several footpaths not far from his home. He said that at first the Council refused to make a decision on his claimed footpaths for several years. But, once the Council reached a decision not to make the orders, he was able to appeal against the Council’s decision to the Secretary of State for the Environment (via the Planning Inspectorate). The Council lost the appeal and in 2005 the Planning Inspectorate directed the Council to make the relevant orders.

Mr C said that the Council’s unreasonable delay meant that he would be unlikely to be able to use the footpaths in his lifetime (he was then 80 years old). He said the Council’s delays have deprived him of the use of paths that he would have expected to use every few weeks.

The Ombudsman’s view

The Ombudsman found that the Council’s delays and broken promises of action caused Mr C frustration, inconvenience, aggravation and uncertainty, and he was also put to some unnecessary expense in pursuing the matter.

Outcome

To remedy the injustice, the Council agreed to:

• apologise for the delays:
• fund £500 of new footpath work in the area in recognition of the delays, uncertainty and inconvenience in pursuing this matter; the work to be agreed with Mr C;
• ensure that there was no further unreasonable delay and that the orders were properly made; and
• review its procedures to ensure that the failings identified here were unlikely to recur.

Date Updated: 13/01/09