East Northamptonshire District Council (04B14532) & Northamptonshire County Council (04B15499)

Highway management & Planning applications

Maladministration causing injustice

29 March 2007

Failures by East Northamptonshire District Council and Northamptonshire County Council meant that a road in a new housing development was not brought up to adoptable standard. The Ombudsman found that the Councils failed to ensure that residents were properly protected against having to pay the cost of the work themselves if the developer failed to do so.

‘Mr Ramsay’ (not his real name for legal reasons) bought his property on a new housing development in October 2002. He complained that East Northamptonshire Council failed to attach the appropriate planning conditions to the permission granted for the development at Gordon Road (not its real name), causing the road and street lighting to remain unfinished, and further failed to enforce the section 106 agreement to ensure a children’s play area was built.

He also complained that Northamptonshire County Council failed to ensure that Gordon Road was brought up to an adoptable standard in terms of road surface and street lighting. He said that the unfinished road surface with raised ironworks was dangerous, particularly at night as there was no street lighting. This particularly affected Mr Ramsay as he was registered blind and he had to install a light outside his home. The road did not drain properly when it rained and large puddles flooded the road outside Mr Ramsay’s house. Unsightly weeds and grass grew at the edges of the road and around the ironworks. The proposed play area was across the road from Mr Ramsay’s property. It was completely overgrown and covered with rubbish including glass and old mattresses.

The Ombudsman found fault by East Northamptonshire District Council for:

• not taking effective action to enforce the section 106 agreement to ensure that the play area was built; and
• not notifying the County Council of the building regulations approval for the development to enable it to issue an advance payment code (APC) notice to the developer. The APC notice system is meant to provide householders with protection in the event that the developer does not complete the road to an adoptable standard.

He found fault by Northamptonshire County Council for not taking adequate steps to ensure the system of notification was working satisfactorily to ensure that an APC notice could be served.

These combined failures meant that there was no protection for Mr Ramsay from the costs of carrying out the works to the road to bring it up to a reasonable standard in the event that the developer did not do so.

The Ombudsman did not find fault by East Northamptonshire Council over the wording of the planning condition.

The Ombudsman found maladministration by both Councils causing injustice and recommended that:

• the County Council and the District Council use their best endeavours to bring the road up to an adoptable standard at their own expense divided equally between them, if possible utilising any money retained by the householders during their purchase;
• once this was completed, the County Council should adopt the road if possible;
• in respect of the play area, the District Council should make concerted efforts to locate the developer’s solicitor with a view to enforcing the section 106 agreement. If this was not successful within six months, then the Council should complete the play area itself, at its own expense; and
• the Councils should pay £250 to Mr Ramsay for his time and trouble in making this complaint and for the impact on his amenity that the unfinished road and play area have had on him. This cost should be borne equally by both Councils.
   

Date Updated: 30/01/09