Medway Council (20 000 621)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Land 31-Jul-2020

Summary: Mr X complained about the Council refusing to maintain land which is overgrown and which he says should have been adopted with the public highway. The Ombudsman should not exercise his discretion investigate this complaint which has been made outside the normal 12-month period. This is because his complaint concerns the maintenance of private land which the Ombudsman cannot investigate.

Kingston Upon Hull City Council (20 000 221)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Land 21-Jul-2020

Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to close park gates close to his shop. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because an investigation is unlikely to find fault by the Council.

Leeds City Council (20 000 710)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Land 15-Jul-2020

Summary: Mr X complained about the Council including his land in a Site Allocations Plan which he says has restricted his right to develop his land in future. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Lancashire County Council (19 021 103)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Land 09-Jul-2020

Summary: Mr X complained about the Council claiming he had encroached on its land. He says the boundary has not changed since he obtained Land Registry evidence that he owns it. The Ombudsman should not exercise his discretion to investigate this complaint. This is because property ownership is a legal matter which can only be determined by the courts. It is reasonable for Mr X or the Council to seek a legal judgement on the boundary if they cannot resolve the dispute.

Shropshire Council (20 000 614)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Land 09-Jul-2020

Summary: Mr X complains a Council report, used as a basis to recommend an order to modify the line of a public footpath, was flawed. Mr X says the modification has resulted in a substantial devaluation of his home. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint as he can achieve no meaningful outcome for him.

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (20 000 804)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Land 07-Jul-2020

Summary: Mr X complains the way the Council has decided to dispose of some of its land has resulted in a significant financial loss to the public purse. The Ombudsman cannot investigate as this complaint affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area and so is outside the Ombudsman’s legal remit.

City of York Council (19 016 125)

Statement Not upheld Land 30-Jun-2020

Summary: Mr X complains the Council incorrectly claims to have adopted a private road, including an area of his private property. He wants the Council to remove the road from its list of streets and for the Ombudsman to require the Council to adhere to highway legislation. The Ombudsman has discontinued this investigation because the Ombudsman cannot decide, on balance, whether the Council has legally adopted the road or whether there are highway rights over the road.

Manchester City Council (19 011 529)

Statement Upheld Land 29-Jun-2020

Summary: Mr X complained on behalf of himself and three other residents. They complained about work carried out on their land to extend the rear boundary of their gardens during 2019 and about delays in legally conveying land from an old alleyway to them. The Council’s contractor carried out the works in line with the proposed plans. The Council was at fault for not confirming its ownership of the land before agreeing the scheme, which has led to delays in conveying the land to the residents. The Council agreed to write to the residents and apologise for the uncertainty caused by the delay and explain to them how it is going to resolve the matter. It also agreed to provide the Ombudsman with an action plan with timescales of how it intends to legally convey the land to the residents.

London Borough of Hillingdon (19 020 888)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Land 09-Apr-2020

Summary: Mr B complains about the Council’s failure to accept responsibility for a fence between his property and Council land. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because Mr B has a legal remedy available to him to challenge the Council’s position through the courts.