Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to take action on drainage problems. There is insufficient injustice caused to Mr X by the matter to justify an Ombudsman investigation. The Ombudsman does not investigate complaints about a council’s complaint procedures, if he does not intend to deal with the substantive issue.

The complaint

1. Mr X lives on a street with a steep gradient. A series of culverts and drains take water down the hillside. A neighbour in a property uphill did works in November 2016 which Mr X says increased the amount of water entering a culvert. Mr X says the Council also advised him a drain on the same drainage system has failed or is blocked, resulting in water overflowing the street drains.
2. Mr X says the Council has failed to:
1. enforce against the neighbour for doing those works;
2. advise the person with responsibility for the failed drain about the problem, and require them to fix it;
3. take longer term action by redirecting the watercourse;
4. give consistent and helpful responses to his concerns and complaints.
3. Mr X says the drain and culvert issue has not had a detrimental impact on his property, but street drains flood during heavy rain. One house further downhill has flooded once, and he is concerned about the risk to other properties lower down.
4. Mr X wants the Council to:
• enforce against the neighbour who caused more water to enter the culvert;
• tell the owner of the property on whose land the collapsed drain is located and ask them to fix it;
• reroute the watercourse;
• apologise to him for the time and effort he has spent over three years pursuing the matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. As part of my assessment I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr X;
• issued a draft decision, inviting Mr X to reply, and considered his responses.

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What I found

7. Mr X says there has been no detrimental impact to his property by the works done by the neighbour on the culvert, or by the other drain problem. Mr X reports that in heavy rain the drains overflow on to the road.
8. The Ombudsman cannot investigate where there is no significant personal injustice caused to the complainant by the matters complained of. I do not consider the water on the road is a sufficient personal injustice to Mr X to justify an Ombudsman investigation.
9. I understand Mr X is concerned about the impact of the current culvert and drains on neighbours, one property having been previously flooded. But that is not Mr X’s injustice. I also note Mr X is worried other properties further downhill might flood in future. The Ombudsman cannot consider potential injustices which have not happened.
10. I recognise Mr X has been dissatisfied with the Council’s responses from 2016 onwards, including the replies during the complaints process. But it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about council complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s responses and internal complaint process.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because:
• there is insufficient personal injustice caused to Mr X by the matter to warrant an Ombudsman investigation;
• the Ombudsman does not investigate councils’ internal complaints processes when he does not intend to investigate the substantive issues giving rise to the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman